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THE PROVINCES OF CALIFORNIA 

1— The Sierra Nevada Mountains 3— The Coast Ranges 6 _ The Volcanic Plateau 

2 — The Great Vallev 4 — Southern California , Tt p : i ■ 

ihe Ureat Vallej 5— Klamath Mountains 7-The Great Basin 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF 
CALIFORNIA 



BY 



HAROLD W. FAIRBANKS, Ph. D. 
n 



Author of 

Stories of Our Mother Earth, Home Geography, Rocks 

and Minerals, The Western United States, 

Practical Physiography, 

Etc. 



SAN FRANCISCO 

WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO. 

1912. 



.C2/F2, 



COPYRIGHT 1911 

BY 

WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO. 



v^O.bd 



©CL A 30085: 






CONTENTS 



i \X Chapter I. 

I ^Chapter II. 

Chapter III. 

Chapter IV. 

Chapter V. 



Chapter VI. 
Chapter VII. 

Chapter VIII. 

Chapter IX. 

Chapter X. 
Chapter XI. 



Chapter XII. 



Chapter XIII. 



PART I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

GENERAL SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA 
ORIGIN OF THE SURFACE FEATURES 
THE COAST LINE OF CALIFORNIA 
THE CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA . 
NATURAL RESOURCES 

Water Supply .... 

Soil 



Vegetation 
Animal Life 
Minerals 



PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS 

SUCCESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF DIFFERENT 
OCCUPATIONS . 

IMPORTANCE OF IRRIGATION IN CALIFOR- 
NIA 

DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND COM- 
MERCIAL LIFE 

PART II. 

THE DIFFERENT NATURAL REGIONS OR 

PROVINCES .... 

THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS 

Mountain Passes ... 

Geographical Story of the Sierra Nevad 
tains .... 

The Scenic Features of the Mountains 

Economic Importance . 
THE GREAT VALLEY PROVINCE 

Drainage .... 

Climate 

Industrial Development 
THE COAST RANGES .... 

Drainage 

Climate of the Coastal Region 

Mountain Passes: Lines of Communication 

Old Levels of the Mountains 

Ancient Volcanoes 

Great Earthquake Rift 

Natural Resources 



PAGE 

1 

6 
10 
16 
24 
24 
28 
30 
38 
40 
47 

SO 

ss 

57 



Moun- 



60 
62 
65 



67 

69 
73 
78 
79 
81 
83 
88 
93 
97 
99 

103 

104 

105 

107 



CONTENTS— Continued 



PAGE 

Chapter XIV. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Ill 

Relief and Drainage . . . . . .111 

Lakes 125 

Coast and Islands . . . . . . 126 

Earthquake Lines . . . . . 129 

Geographic History ...... 132 

Geographic Barriers . . . . .134 

Climate 137 

Natural Resources 138 

Value of Different Slopes ..... 140 
Industrial Development ..... 142 

Chapter XV. KLAMATH MOUNTAIN REGION . . .147 
Location and Boundaries ..... 147 

Physical Features ...... 148 

Climatic Features . . . _ . . .151 

Resources ........ 152 

Chapter XVI. THE VOLCANIC PLATEAU REGION . .154 
Volcanoes and Recent Eruptions . . .156 

Climate . . 158 

Resources . . . . . . . . . 158 

Chapter XVII. THE GREAT BASIN PROVINCE ... 160 
Extent and General Character .... 160 
Surface Features ....... 161 

Climate 169 

Natural Resources . . . . . . 172 

APPENDIX . 175 






THE GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The geography of California is a vast and many sided subject 
which has never yet been adequately treated. It is not the inten- 
tion of the author in presenting this little hand-book to take up 
the subject in an exhaustive manner, for that would require a 
large volume. Nor is his intention to present a mere description 
of the various aspects of the geography of the State, for this has 
already been done, although in an inadequate manner, in various 
little school supplements and advertising pamphlets. Moreover, 
mere description cannot impart real geographic knowledge, since 
we must know something of causes and relations. 

The object which the author has in mind is rather to give a 
simple and yet detailed description of the conditions under which 
we are living, and weave them into a connected and rational 
whole, so that teachers and pupils may acquire the elements of a 
rational knowledge of California. As our work in geography is 
at present outlined it is ridiculously unphilosophical as well as 
thoroughly inadequate. 

The geography of California is extraordinarily varied and 
interesting. Children should not leave school without some 
elementary conceptions of the origin and meaning of the physical 
features about them, of the strongly contrasted climatic condi- 
tions, and of the influence which these exert upon our lives. 

To meet the above need the author has woven together in as 
simple manner as possible those facts and relations which should 
be known and appreciated by every educated resident of Cali- 
fornia. 



CHAPTER I. 
A GENERAL SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA. 

The fabled "Isle of California" described in an old 
Spanish romance as lying in the South Seas was peopled 
with Amazons, Griffins, and contained stores of gold. 
What was more natural then, than that the large body of 
land discovered off the west coast of Mexico by a Spanish 
commander under Cortez, and supposed to be an island, 
should receive the name of California? To be sure, the 
new land was not known to contain gold, or had any 
monsters been seen, but this mattered little to the imagin- 
ative Spaniards. 

For more than two hundred years there was difference 
of opinion as to whether this land which we now know 
as Lower California was an island or a part of the main- 
land. In a geography published in London in 1725 Cali- 
fornia is described and mapped as a large island extend- 
ing north to the Straits of Anian (Puget Sound). In 
this book all that is known of California is given in one 
paragraph, a part of which reads as follows : "This island 
was formerly esteemed a peninsula, but now found to be 
entirely surrounded with water. Its north part was dis- 
covered by Sir Francis' Drake, Anno 1577, and by him 
called New Albion, where, erecting a pillar, he fastened 
thereto the arms of England. The inland parts were 
afterwards searched into, and being found to be only a 
dry, barren, cold country, Europeans were discouraged 
from sending colonies to the same, so that it still remains 
in the hands of the natives." 



2 The Geography of California 

After the establishment, in 1769, of the first of the 
missions within the boundaries of the present State, the 
northern portion of that indefinite area to which the 
name California had been given came to be known as 
New, or Upper California, while the older known penin- 
sula was called Old, or Lower California. 

We find that by 1832 the opinion first formed as to the 
value of California had given place to a radically differ- 
ent one, as illustrated by Flint's geography of that date. 
He says : "This picturesque country displays on every 
side magnificent forests or verdant savannahs, where the 
herds of deer and elk of enormous size graze undisturbed. 
The soil is fertile. The vine, olive and wheat prosper. 
* * * The aspect of the country is charming, and the 
inhabitants enjoy perpetual spring." 

It was not until after the war with Mexico that the 
boundaries of Upper California became clearly defined, 
although on the north the forty-second parallel had been 
previously recognized by treaty with Spain as separating 
it from the Oregon territory. 

As one result of the Mexican war we came into posses- 
sion of Lower as well as Upper California, but the treaty 
of peace finally established the southern boundary of the 
present State near the thirty-second parallel. The orig- 
inal draft of the treaty included the mouth of the Colo- 
rado in the United States, and should have been ratified 
as it was, for it would have avoided disputes as to the 
use of the river and saved an arbitrary boundary line 
across its great and fertile delta. 

The eastern boundary of California, during Mexican 
rule was quite indefinite. It was held, on the one hand. 



A General Survey of California 3 

that the summit of the Sierra Nevada or Snowy Moun- 
tains was the eastern limit, while on the other, the country 
as far east as Colorado was included in the territory. The 
line as finally established, however, followed a middle 
course, including a strip of the desert country east of the 
Sierras which geographically belongs with Nevada. 

The only natural features, then, which sharply set off 
California from the adjacent regions are the Pacific 
ocean upon the west, and the Colorado river upon the 
southeast. Notwithstanding this fact the coastal region 
and the Great Valley with its tributary slopes are so 
isolated by mountains and deserts that with the primitive 
means of travel in the early days they were extremely 
difficult to reach. 

The water route by the Isthmus or Cape Horn was 
long and dangerous. The Sierra Nevadas formed a wall 
upon the east which it was almost impossible to pass 
except at favorable seasons of the year, while on the 
north canons and mountains almost as difficult of passage 
separated California from Oregon. 

The Colorado river formed no great obstacle, for its 
mighty canon lies out of the direct line from the east, yet 
both to the east and west of it were vast deserts which, 
stretching far north across Nevada, almost encircled the 
mountain barrier, adding very greatly to the danger and 
difficulty of emigrant travel. When, however, the emi- 
grants had reached San Francisco by water, or had finallv 
passed the Sierras and entered the Great Valley, the 
topography of the country was found to be such, v/ith 
the streams and valleys converging to San Francisco 



4 The Geography of California 

Bay, that they could gain with little trouble almost any 
point in the central and northern portions of the State. 

The emigrant, who came the southern route across 
Arizona and entered Southern California, was still far 
from being past the difficulties of his journey if he wished 
to gain the "gold diggings." The Mohave Desert, with 
its bounding mountains, forms a wedge almost cutting 
the State into two parts. The only way to reach North- 
ern and Central California was either to cross the moun- 
tain ranges and desert, or by keeping close to the coast, 
take advantage of a passage between a spur of the moun- 
tains and the sea. The trail led along a narrow beach 
beneath the cliffs and was impassable at high tide. In 
addition, several mountain ranges had to be crossed on 
the latter route. California is thus seen to be a political 
unit with a very complex geographical character. Phys- 
ical and climatic barriers appear to have played an unusu- 
ally insignificant part in the setting of its boundaries. 

The influence of the waterways upon the discovery and 
settlement of California was much less than is usually the 
case with new countries. The Colorado river was prac- 
tically useless because of the great canon in which it is 
buried throughout the most of its course. In addition, 
its lower portion is shallow and its mouth in such a remote 
and inaccessible region that it was almost unused in the 
early days. No other streams i were available for those 
attempting to cross the continent, although for some 
years previous to Fremont's explorations, it was erron- 
eously supposed, and this error crept into the maps of 
that time, that a great river known as the Buenaventura 
rose in a lake in the Rocky Mountains and flowed west- 



A General Survey of California 5 

erly into San Francisco Bay. Fremont attempted to find 
this supposed river when caught in the deserts of north- 
ern Nevada with winter coming on, and nearly perished 
in the snows of the Sierra Nevada range which was 
found to lie directly across the path of the imaginary 
stream. 

With California hemmed in by mountains and deserts 
upon the land side, it would surely seem that in the Pacific 
Ocean, which borders it for such a long distance, we would 
find an easy way of approach. However, the records of 
the various exploring expeditions which visited the 
Pacific coast of North America show that they were 
repeatedly driven southward by the northwesterly winds 
and storms. Time and again the expeditions sent up the 
coast from Mexico were beaten back and disabled. Par- 
ties traveling by land made better time and encountered 
fewer difficulties than those upon the ocean. The diffi- 
culty of exploring the coast by sea caused both Drake 
and Visciano to sail past the entrance to San Francisco 
Bay without seeing it, and led to its interesting discovery 
by a land expedition under Portola. 



6 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER II. 
ORIGIN OF THE SURFACE FEATURES. 

The traveler passing through California encounters the 
most remarkable diversity of scenery, as well as of climate 
and productions. Nowhere else in the United States is 
there to be found in an equal area so many interesting 
land forms, and nowhere else is shown so clearly the 
influence which these exert upon climate and life. Within 
the bounds of California are found nearly all the different 
types of physical features which make up the surface of 
the earth. We have, then, in our study of California 
geography a most remarkable opportunity to learn how 
completely human life is dependent upon the conditions 
surrounding it, and how this life has been modified by 
these conditions. 

Although we do not ordinarily realize the fact, the 
surface of the earth is never at rest. In one place it may 
be slowly rising, while in another it is sinking. As a rule 
these movements are so slow that their effects are scarcely 
noticeable in a lifetime, but now and then, when the 
strain exerted by the forces within the earth is greater 
than the crust will stand, the latter breaks and slips, and 
we experience the sudden jar of an earthquake. 

These forces which fold and break the surface operate 
from within the earth. Upon the outside there are other 
forces at work whose ultimate effect is to smooth down 
the surface. Changes of temperature, frost, carbonic 
acid, etc., are everywhere causing the exposed rocks to 
crumble and decay, while the streams are the chief agents 



Origin of the Surface Features 7 

which are carrying these materials from the highlands to 
the lowlands. 

In trying to understand the physical geography of Cali- 
fornia we must remember that the surface as we see it 
is the result of the interaction of the two forces men- 
tioned. We might say that they are more or less in con- 
flict with each other. The first has folded and broken 
the earth's surface, making mountains and broad valleys, 
while the second has been tearing down the mountains 
and filling up the valleys. During this process of erosion 
the surface is sculptured into the infinite variety of peak 
and canon which we see in the hilly and mountainous 
portions of the State. If left undisturbed long enough 
the loftiest mountains will finally be worn down to low 
hills and even plains. 

From what has been said it is clear that the higher and 
steeper mountains are younger than those with gentle 
slopes. In different parts of the State there are escarp- 
ments which have been made by earthquake movements 
in quite recent times. Such escarpments are particularly 
well illustrated along the Great Rift of the Coast Ranges. 
Although the opening of this rift at the earthquake of 
1906 was due to a horizontal strain rather than a vertical 
one, yet at earlier times the vertical movement predom- 
inated, as is shown by long ridges and cliffs, in places 
several hundred feet high. The grand and picturesque 
eastern wall of the Sierra Nevada mountains facing 
Owens Valley was formed by a series of similar displace- 
ments extending through a long period of time, and 
which have amounted to 10,000 feet in the Mt. Whitney 



8 The Geography of California 

region. The Owens Valley earthquake of 1872 showed 
that these have not yet stopped. 

In going from the Great Valley to Los Angeles we 
cross the western arm of the Mohave Desert and obtain 
an excellent view of a topography which contrasts most 
strongly with that of the mountains just mentioned. This 
is a region of ancient and almost worn down mountains. 
No earthquake or other mountain-making movements 
have disturbed this region for ages. It has been so long 
subject only to the forces of disintegration and erosion 
that its once mountainous surface has been reduced 
almost to a plain. Low hills rise here and there, some of 
them perhaps still worthy of the name of mountains, but 
their slopes are gentle, and the accumulations of gravel 
due to the occasional cloudbursts in places almost cover 
the remnants of the one-time mountainous surface. This 
region is in its topographic old age, and the desert waste 
only adds to the impression of decay and death. Imagin- 
ation fails to picture the length of time required to 
accomplish this result, or the number of years that would 
be required to reduce the lofty Sierra Nevadas to a simi- 
lar condition. 

In the northeastern part of the State we find a different 
kind of mountains from those described. These are vol- 
canoes, and although apparently extinct, some of them 
give indications of having been in eruption so recently 
that we should not be surprised to see them break forth 
again. Earthquakes and volcanic action have had a great 
deal to do with the shaping of our State, and both will 
undoubtedly occur again in this region, as we know they 
do at the present time in various parts of the earth. 



Origin of the Surface Features 9 

The lofty mountain ranges and volcanic peaks have 
been formed by forces within the earth. The complex 
detail, however, of each of these mountain ranges, in- 
cluding rugged peaks, deep precipitous canons and clus- 
tering foothills, is formed by the disintegration and 
erosion of the solid rocks. The crumbling rock materials 
are carried away chiefly by running water and deposited 
in the lowland valleys, which were formed by the down 
folding of the earth's crust. Thus have come to their 
present state the great plain-like Sacramento-San Joa- 
quin valley (the Great Valley of California), and the 
many larger valleys of the Coast Ranges and of Southern 
California. 



10 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER III. 
THE COAST LINE OF CALIFORNIA. 

The whole Pacific region of both North and South 
America has through the long periods of the past been 
subject to many and severe disturbances. We can easily 
see why this is the case, because lying next to the largest 
and deepest of the oceans the crust must be weakened by 
the folding along the continental border. Fissures must 
frequently form in this line of weakness, and through 
these fissures flow the lavas which have covered so many 
thousand square miles and built up the lofty volcanoes. 

Changes of level are constantly taking place along this 
border land, and the effects of these are most quickly and 
readily detected at the meeting point with the water, that 
is, the shore line. We find remarkable illustrations of 
both elevation and of submergence of the coastal region 
throughout the whole length of California. 

The particular character of our coast as it exists at 
present has been determined by two important things. 
One is the fact of recent submergence and the other is 
the direction in which the leading mountain ranges 
extend. 

Before taking up in detail the causes which have made 
our coast line what it is, we must say a few words about 
the distinction to be made between continental masses and 
ocean basins. As a usual thing the margins of the 
continents are marked by downward folding of the earth's 
crust making a fairly sharp division line between the 
continental elevations and the ocean basins. It frequently 



The Coast Line of California 11 

happens, however, that the actual meeting point of the 
land and water does not correspond with the real conti- 
nental border, so that as the land changes its level the 
edges of the continent may at times be submerged. This 
is the case with the plateau of North America at the 
present time. Soundings by the Coast Survey have 
shown that off California there is a submerged shelf over 
which the water is in most places comparatively shallow, 
and outside of which the bottom descends very rapidly 
to the abyssal depths of the Pacific. Canon-like depres- 
sions extend from near the land across these shallows to 
the deep water outside. We can explain them in no other 
way than by assuming that they represent portions of the 
channels of ancient rivers which were submerged by the 
sinking of the land. 

The continental plateau of which we have been speak- 
ing is only about ten miles wide, off the coast of Northern 
California. Several submerged canons extend across it, 
one of which reaches so close to the present shore that a 
ship taking soundings over it supposed, from the depth, 
that it was far from the land, and so approached so close 
to the rocks that it came near being wrecked. 

At the Golden Gate ,the submerged plateau is thirty 
miles wide, and the water over it so shallow that if the 
land were to rise 200 feet one could walk dry shod out 
to the Farallone Islands. These stand near the outer 
edge of the plateau, and are really but the unsubmerged 
portions of a line of .low granite hills. 

The largest of all of the submerged canons occupies 
Monterey Bay and extends up so close to the land near 



12 The Geography of California 

the mouth of the Salinas river that a wharf and shipping 
point has been established there. 

The plateau is very narrow opposite the coast of Mon- 
terey county, where the steep slope of the Santa Lucia 
range extends downward with but little break to the 
depths of the Pacific. 

Off Santa Barbara the plateau rapidly widens, and its 
outer margin is marked by the Channel Islands. Still 
farther south it attains a width of 150 miles, while the 
water over it is much deeper. Upon this portion of the 
plateau are mountain peaks several of which, known 
as San Clemente, Santa Catalina, and San Nicholas 
islands, rise above the present sea level, while others 
reach only part way to the surface, and are known as 
"banks." 

An elevation of 1000 feet would connect the Channel 
Islands with the mainland, and that the land did actually 
stand at least that much higher in very recent times is 
shown by the presence of bones of the mastodon and 
extinct horse upon the island of Santa Rosa. 

Many movements have affected the coast of California, 
and we have evidence that the land not only stood much 
higher than at present, but also that at one time it was 
at least 1500 feet lower than it is now. On the seaward 
face of the hills near old Fort Ross, a few miles north of 
San Francisco, there is a remnant of an ancient boulder 
beach having an elevation of about 1500 feet above the 
sea. 

Remains of wave-cut cliffs and terraces are found more 
or less distinct along the whole length of the California 
coast. These are beautifully shown upon San Clemente 



The Coast Line of California 13 

Island, where they extend up to nearly 1500 feet. San 
Pedro Hill, near Los Angeles, is terraced up to 1200 feet, 
and other finely preserved terraces are found upon the 
coast of Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties, and 
ranging in height from 10 to more than 700 feet. Near 
Port Harford wonderful wave-cut caves occur in a 
resistant rock 10 feet above present high tide. On Pt. 
Loma, near San Diego, the elevated beaches exposed in 
the present cliffs are full of fossil shells. 

Along certain portions of the coast the mountains 
extend directly down to the sea, but as a general thing 
they are separated from the sea by a coastal plain varying 
from a quarter of a mile to several miles in width. This 
plain was a portion of the marginal sea floor at one time, 
and is due in part to the leveling action of the waves, 
and in part to the sediments which accumulated upon 
this floor. 

We would not have known California at the time of 
which we have spoken when the land was so deeply 
submerged. All the rich lowlands were flooded. Impe- 
rial Valley and the Valley of Los Angeles formed deep 
bays. The Great Valley was a vast inland sea. The Coast 
Ranges were broken up into peninsulas and islands, and 
only the loftiest points of the present islands rose above 
the water. Such a story sounds like a romance, but we 
have clear evidence that it is true. 

The last thing that happened to our coast was a sinking 
of the land, and we are not sure but that this movement 
is still going on. This recent subsidence has flooded the 
mouths of the streams along the whole length of the 
State, and given rise to the present bays and tidal lagoons. 



14 The Geography of California 

The mouths of the larger streams remained open because 
of the strong currents, but the waves threw up bars 
across the mouths of most of them. Then began the 
process of silting up the lagoons behind the bars, and 
many of these have now been turned into marshes or 
meadows. 

None of the streams thus flooded are navigable except 
the Sacramento. This large river, flowing down with 
gentle grade through the large valley now occupied by 
San Francisco Bay, was drowned completely across the 
Coast Ranges through the Strait of Carquinez, and is 
now affected by the tides even to the heart of the Great 
Valley. 

A little distance back we said that two things had 
determined the character of the coast of California. The 
first was that the land has been moving up and down, 
but now occupies a sort of middle position between great 
uplift and great submergence. The second factor was 
the character and direction of the mountain ranges ; these 
are nearly parallel with the shore, but exhibit a little more 
westerly trend, lapping past each other en eschelon. The 
position of the mountains, then, taken in connection with 
the fact that the continental border is not deeply sub- 
merged, has resulted in a fairly even coast line with few 
good harbors. It can readily be seen that if the land 
were submerged 500 to 1000 feet more, as we know it 
has been in the past, the coast line would be radically 
changed and many deep bays would appear. Such a 
condition would facilitate water traffic, but would destroy 
the greater portion of the fertile valley lands which now 
furnish us with the main body of our agricultural prod- 



The Coast Line of California 15 

ucts. As far as mining would be concerned the greater 
portion of the oil fields would be buried, but mining for 
the metals, being carried on mostly in the mountains, 
would not be affected. 

On the whole we can say that our race has come into 
California at the best time possible for its expansion and 
development. The vast expanse of lowlands is more 
important to us than would be additional, harbors result- 
ing from a sinking of the coast. 



16 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE CLIMATE OF CALIFORNIA. 

In our geographic study of California we cannot dis- 
miss the subject of climate with a mere statement that it 
rains heavily in some places and little in others; that it 
is warm in one part and cold in another. We want to 
know the causes governing the distribution of the rain, 
why it rains nearly 100 inches each year upon the north- 
west coast, and an average of only two or three inches 
in the basin of the lower Colorado. We want to know 
why it is cool upon the coast and hot in the interior. We 
want to find out what part latitude plays, what is the 
influence of the coast winds, of mountain ranges and of 
elevation. 

In seeking to learn the climate of a country we first 
think of its latitude, since that is usually the most 
important factor. In the case of California, however, this 
inquiry does not help us very much. The map shows that 
California has a coast line nearly 1000 miles in length, 
reaching through ten degrees of latitude, and we would 
expect that its northern part, which is nearly the latitude 
of Chicago, would be cold in winter, and that the southern 
part, which reaches to about the latitude of Savannah, 
would be very warm, but in reality there is, near the coast, 
only a few degrees difference in temperature between the 
north and the south. Spring fruits appear first, and 
oranges ripen earlier in Northern rather than in Southern 
California. We shall have to look to the ocean, the wind 



The Climate of California 17 

and mountain barriers for an explanation of this strange 
fact. 

Not only is there little difference in average tempera- 
ture near the coast through many degrees of latitude, but 
we encounter the farther anomalous fact that in the 
course of only a very few miles in passing along any one 
degree of latitude from our large valleys to the mountain 
uplands we go through all variations of climate from the 
sub-tropical to the arctic. 

Now with regard to the small range in temperature 
as we go north or south along the coast, we know that 
the temperature of the ocean changes but little from win- 
ter to summer. We also know that California, being in 
the temperate zone, is situated in the belt of prevailing 
westerly winds. The temperature of the air over the 
ocean is determined, to a large extent, by that of the 
water, and since the ocean varies but little throughout 
the year, and the winds blow mostly from the ocean 
toward the land, the latter is going to be cooler in summer 
and warmer in winter than it otherwise would be. 

If it were not for mountain barriers the cool ocean 
winds would sweep far inland and temper the climate of 
the whole State to a greater or less degree. The fact 
that there are mountain ranges lying close to and parallel 
with the coast has resulted not only in a deficiency of good 
harbors, but has aided in making the climate of the inte- 
rior subject to much greater extremes of temperature, as 
well as decreasing its rainfall. By the time the winds 
have passed the Coast Ranges their moisture and coolness 
have been greatly reduced, while still farther eastward, 
on the opposite side of the Sierra Nevadas, the summers 



18 The Geography of California 

are not only extremely hot, but the lack of moisture 
makes the region a desert. 

The influence of the ocean upon the adjacent land is 
increased through the existence of fogs during the dry 
season. The fogs are believed to be due to a descending 
current of warm air which comes in contact with the cool 
water some distance off the land. The temperature of 
the air is thus reduced below the dew point and heavy 
banks of fog result. These fogs are carried onto the 
land by the westerly winds which blow very regularly 
throughout the summer season. The fog is so dense and 
continuous that the sun is often nearly or quite obscured 
for days at a time. At points where valleys or passes 
lead into the warm interior a strong draft is set up which 
often carries the fog fifty miles inland. The fog keeps 
the coast region moist and green longer than it otherwise 
would be, and thus facilitates dairying and the growth of 
many crops. 

The ocean fogs of which we have been speaking rarely 
reach the Great Valley, and then only through the gap 
in the coast mountains occupied by the Sacramento-San 
Joaquin river. As a result, this valley is so protected 
from the ocean influence that spring opens early and the 
summers are long and very warm, thus favoring the full 
development of sub-tropical fruits. 

Contrasting the Great Valley with the Los Angeles- 
San Bernardino Valley, we find that the latter is not shut 
off from the ocean winds by mountains so that the coast 
fogs spread over the whole of this great region. These 
fogs so temper the air that although so much farther 



The Climate of California 19 

south we find that many fruits, including oranges, do not 
ripen as early as in the north central portion of the State. 

In general, the farther we go from the ocean the 
greater are the extremes in temperature between night 
and day, between summer and winter. On the coast the 
daily range of temperature is often less than 10 degrees, 
while in the valleys of the interior it may sink to 40 
degrees Fahrenheit at night, and rise to 90 degrees in 
the daytime. 

We all know that during the summer, except for the 
thunderstorms in the mountains, it is very rare that any 
rain falls over most of the State, although the air sweep- 
ing in from the sea is saturated with moisture, as shown 
by the fog it bears. We can say, then, that the air of the 
coastal regions contains more moisture during the period 
in which no rain falls than it does on the average during 
the rainy period. Now we can legitimately ask the ques- 
tion, Why does it not rain in summer when the moist 
westerly winds are strongest? This point must be thor- 
oughly understood if we would appreciate the climatic 
conditions under which we are living. 

In the first place, it must not be forgotten that there is 
more or less moisture in the air at all times, but it is only 
when it is saturated that this moisture becomes visible 
in the form of fog or clouds. It is natural to conclude 
that if we have no rains in the summer when the regu- 
larly westerly winds bring in the dense fog banks, we 
might have no rain at all if these winds blew through the 
whole year. It is evident, then, that we must introduce 
some other factor, and in fact our rains are due to other 
and very different causes.- 



20 The Geography of California 

In order to have rain, air must not only be cooled to 
the dew point, but below that point, and the only thing 
which will do that is exemplified in those irregular and 
violent disturbances of the atmosphere which set up 
currents carrying the moisture laden air to a great eleva- 
tion where the temperature is sufficiently low to bring 
this about. 

If we except thunderstorms, which are due to a differ- 
ent condition, we can say that rain is brought about 
through the setting up of a spiral whirling motion in 
the atmosphere very similar to the dust whirl so common 
in warm summer mornings. The storm whirls of the 
atmosphere are, however, almost infinitely greater than 
the dust whirl, being sometimes hundreds, or even 
several thousand miles in diameter. These great whirls, 
although much larger are less severe than the tornado 
or cyclone of the Mississippi Valley, and are commonly 
known as cyclonic storms. 

The most of these great cyclonic whirls which bring 
our rain originate somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean 
and move easterly or southeasterly with the prevailing 
air currents of the temperate zone. They are much more 
frequent and severe in winter than in summer, and com- 
paratively few strike the land south of British Columbia 
during the summer season. As winter approaches these 
whirls become more frequent and move farther south 
until finally they encounter and pass across California. 
If the great cyclonic air whirl moves slowly the storm 
lasts for several days, and if the movement of the air 
within the whirl is very rapid we have the rain accom- 



The Climate of California 21 

panied by strong winds. Because of the fact that the 
whirls revolve in a direction opposite to that of the hands 
of a clock the coming of a storm is usually marked by 
winds blowing from some southerly point. 

With the passing of one of these cyclonic storms the 
sky clears and the wind changes to some northerly point 
and blows with greater or less intensity for some time. 
These cool, dry northerly winds mark the passage of an 
anti-cyclonic whirl in which the air currents move down- 
ward in a direction opposite to that of the cyclone, and 
in which the pressure of the air as indicated by the 
barometer is abnormally high. The storm area, on the 
contrary, is characterized by low barometer owing to 
the upward movement of the air. 

Many storms which pass across Northern California 
fail to reach the southern portion, and they also usually 
decrease in intensity toward the south, so that outside 
of the mountain districts the southern portion of the 
State has a very light rainfall. The influence of moun- 
tains on precipitation is extremely important because of 
the low temperature of their lofty tops. In the case of 
many storms in Southern California which pass over the 
lowland regions with but a slight rainfall, when they 
encounter the mountains, there is a heavy fall of snow or 
rain. It is because of this fact that we find such great 
differences in the rainfall in the course of a few miles. 

During the summer there generally exists an area of 
low air pressure over the Gulf of California, and here 
originate the "Sonora" (so-called from the province of 
Sonora, in Mexico) storms which bring frequent rains 
to Southern Arizona and New Mexico. These storms 



22 The Geography of California 

sometimes reach into Southern California and give heavy 
summer rains on the mountains and in the deserts. In 
fact the heaviest rainfall of the whole year may occur 
upon the Colorado desert in the midst of summer. 

Summer thunder storms are frequent in all the higher 
mountain regions of the State. They are partly due to 
the low pressure areas just mentioned, and in part to 
the influence of the cool mountain tops on the upward 
moving air currents. They add quite materially to the 
summer water supply. 

The sea fogs which have been discussed in a previous 
paragraph are not the only ones which are experienced 
in California. During the clear cool periods of winter 
a heavy blanket of fog, known as "tule fog," occurs in 
nearly all the lowland valleys to a greater or less extent. 
This generally breaks away during the day, but in the 
lower San Joaquin-Sacramento Valley it may last con- 
tinuously for weeks at a time, completely shutting out 
the sun. The name is derived from its prevalence in the 
tule region of the district just mentioned. This fog is 
the result of the settling of the heavier and cooler air 
into the hollows of the land where the evaporation from 
the moist earth following the early winter rains finally 
produces a saturated condition. 

Destructive winds of cyclonic character are rarely 
known in California. The most disagreeable, as well as 
harmful, winds occur in the spring and fall. They are 
dry and hot, and from their direction are known as 
"northers." In Southern California this wind is locally 
known as the "Santa Ana." During its occurrence the 
air is more or less filled with dust, and for this reason 



The Climate of California 23 

is often called a "dust storm" in the drier parts of the 
State. 

From what has preceded it can be seen, in some degree 
at least, how it is that California is characterized by such 
a great variety of climates and productions. It is a 
remarkable and interesting fact that a few miles travel 
will take one from the sub-tropical belt of oranges, 
lemons and figs, to the temperate belt in which apples 
develop their best qualities. A few miles will also take 
us from a region of abundant rainfall to typical deserts 
where nothing can be raised without irrigation. Here 
is to be found every transition between arctic cold and 
tropic heat, impenetrable vegetation of the forests of 
the Northwest and the barren desert of the Southeast. 



24 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER V. 
NATURAL RESOURCES. 

Water Supply. — Owing to the long dry summers in 
California and the light rainfall in certain portions, it is 
realized more fully here than in the central and eastern 
portion of our country how much depends upon the 
conservation and proper use of our water resources. 
There are large areas in California where it is impossible 
for people to live and cultivate the soil, be that soil ever 
so fertile, without first giving attention to the develop- 
ment of a water supply. Even in those parts of the State 
where the rainfall is usually sufficient for the common 
farm crops, there are years in which the rain does not 
come, and without irrigation they would be a failure. 

Rain is needed most during the spring and summer, 
but as we have already seen, the greater part of the 
yearly precipitation comes during the winter. On the 
high mountains this falls in the form of snow which does 
not immediately melt and run away, but lasts until the 
warm spring sun shines upon it. This helps greatly in 
keeping up the flow of the streams when the water is 
needed. 

In the warmer lowland regions of the State the greater 
part of the water which does not soak into the ground 
immediately runs off and may cause serious floods. In 
many parts of the State it is extremely important to 
preserve the flood waters, and as the population increases 
this will become more and more necessary. There are 
large areas in Southern California which have almost 



Natural Resources 25 

reached the limit of development with the present avail- 
able supply of water. The great quantities of flood 
waters which reach the sea after the heavy rains should 
be stored in reservoirs for summer use, thus making 
possible a much greater population and wealth. 

The three largest rivers of the State are the Colorado, 
the San Joaquin-Sacramento, and the Klamath. The 
use of the Colorado for irrigation in California is prac- 
tically limited to the Imperial Valley and the vicinity of 
Yuma. The Klamath might be used in Shasta Valley 
to great advantage, but the most of its course is through 
mountains. The San Joaquin-Sacramento river, with 
its vast plain-like basin filled with fertile soil, and its 
innumerable branches heading in lofty mountains cov- 
ered with snow until late in the season, is the most 
important source of water for irrigation of any stream 
in the State. The Sacramento branch of this river, occu- 
pying the northern arm of the Great Valley, carries an 
abundance of water for all the future needs of irrigation 
upon the adjoining slopes, and in addition possesses a 
navigable channel as far north as Red Bluff. The San 
Joaquin and other streams of the southern arm, while 
traversing as large if not larger area which will be 
dependent on irrigation for its full development, carry 
less water than will be needed. 

The San Gabriel and the Santa Ana are the most 
important streams of Southern California, and in the 
summer are wholly used for irrigation. The Tejunga 
river is also an important stream, as it forms the real 
source of the Los Angeles river which supplies the city 
with water. Owing to the fact that the forests have 



26 The Geography of California 

been so largely removed by fire from the steep slopes of 
the San Gabriel range the San Gabriel and Tejunga 
rivers run very low in the summer. Reforestation is an 
extremely important problem in this region. The Santa 
Ana river, rising in the more lofty San Bernardino 
range, has a better summer flow. The summer flow is 
further increased by the extensive deposits of boulders 
and gravel in the form of moraines left by ancient gla- 
ciers on San Gorgonio peak. These hold the waters 
from the melting snows and give them off slowly through 
the summer. 

Owens river is the largest stream in the Great Basin, 
and is supplied by the melting of the snows on the eastern 
slope of the Sierra Nevadas. The water of this river 
has in part been used for irrigation, and in part gone to 
supply that great sheet of alkaline water known as Owens 
Lake. An aqueduct is now being constructed to carry a 
part of the water of this river 200 miles across the 
Mohave Desert and intervening mountains to Los 
Angeles. It is the most wonderful undertaking of its 
kind in the world. 

The Mohave river is another desert stream of consid- 
erable size which rises in the San Bernardino Mountains 
and flows northerly toward Death Valley. 

The underground water supply obtained from wells 
at first thought seems inexhaustible. Throughout all the 
valleys and lowland regions wells furnish large quantities 
of water. In most places it has to be pumped, but in 
some parts of the San Joaquin Valley, the Valley of Los 
Angeles and the Salton Basin, or Imperial Valley, the 



Natural Resources 27 

water flows out of the top of the well and is known, 
then, as artesian water. 

The underground waters have accumulated from rains 
falling upon the surface and slowly sinking down through 
the gravels and sands of the valley floor, but are really 
not inexhaustible. In the fruit growing districts of 
Southern California, where many wells have been put 
down, the water level is gradually being lowered, so that 
not only is less water obtained, but the wells have to be 
deeper. 

We have already seen that the precipitation is greater 
upon mountains than on lowlands, and that much of it 
falls as snow. The flow of the streams is thus made 
more even than if all came as rain. Glaciers once covered 
the higher mountains of the State, particularly the cen- 
tral and northern portions, and left vast deposits of 
gravel and boulders, which further aid in the retention 
of the water from the melting snows. These deposits 
also often form dams across the canons, giving rise to 
lakes which are a very important agent in equalizing 
the flow of streams. 

Except for the Sacramento river the streams of Cali- 
fornia are of very little use for navigation. Dredging 
out of the channels of both the Sacramento and San 
Joaquin Valleys should be of great assistance to the 
inland development of California. 

The streams of California, rising as they do in high 
mountains and flowing with rapids and waterfalls down 
to the valleys, are coming to be very important as sources 
of power for commercial and manufacturing purposes. 
There is hardly any limit to the electrical power which 



28 The Geography of California 

can be developed from them, and which now can be 
transmitted to any point where we wish to use it. 

Soil.— The surface of California is marked by a great 
variety of soils, a fact due partly to the different condi- 
tions under which they were formed and partly to differ- 
ences in the underlying rocks from which they were 
derived. The mountain sides and foothills where the 
slopes are not too precipitous are covered with a soil 
derived from the underlying bedrock. This is known as 
residual soil because it is what remains when the con- 
stituents of the rocks decay and crumble. These soils 
are, as a rule, quite thin, with here and there masses of 
rock projecting up through them. Although fertile, and 
extensively cultivated, residual soils are not as deep or as 
rich as the valley soils. Where it is too rocky and the 
surface is too steep, these soils are devoted to grazing 
rather than to agriculture. This fact illustrates the 
control which physical conditions exert upon life. 

For ages the rocks of the highlands have been crumb- 
ling and the streams have been carrying the finer and 
richer particles, as well as the soluble constituents, to the 
valleys or the ocean. The valley soils are therefore deep 
and extremely rich in plant food. In some portions of 
the San Joaquin, Imperial, and other valleys, there are 
such large quantities of soluble materials, which are 
usually known as alkalies, that it is difficult to raise crops 
without first neutralizing or removing a portion of the 
alkali. Such soils were formed in the beds of ancient 
lakes or marshy flats where the waters as they dried up 
left the substances which were in solution mixed with 
the silt. 



Natural Resources 29 

The soils of the valleys vary with the conditions under 
which they were formed. There is ( 1 ) the fine alluvium 
of the flood plains which is very rich and sometimes 
hundreds of feet deep. Such a soil is well shown in the 
banks of New river, which cut a deep channel across the 
Colorado Desert (Imperial Valley) at the time of the 
last overflow of the Colorado river. The banks are in 
some places 80 feet high, and consist of alternating layers 
of light and dark silt from top to bottom. 

The major portion of the valley slopes, particularly in 
Southern California, consist of coarser material deposited 
in form of debris fans below the points where the streams 
issue from the mountains. These soils, taken together 
with their position, offer the best conditions for the 
growing of citrus fruits. 

The soils of the coastal region are usually a fine sandy 
loam. They may be confined to a narrow strip between 
the mountains and the sea, or as about San Francisco 
Bay and in the region south of Los Angeles, cover a large 
extent of country. The cliffs along the Alameda and 
Berkeley shores, as well v as those at Long Beach, give 
good exposures of these soils. 

Soils are heavy if they contain a large amount of clay, 
and light if there is much sand in them. Consequently, 
in Southern California, where the rocks are largely gran- 
itic, we find that light soils predominate, while in the 
valleys of the Coast Ranges and in portions of the Great 
Valley the soils are more often heavy and are known as 
"adobe" soils. The latter, while rich, are more difficult 
to work than the light soils. 



30 The Geography of California 

Some plants require a heavy soil, others require a light 
soil to do well, and some thrive where there is much 
alkali, but as a rule in California the most important 
factors are climatic. We take into account first, then, 
both the moisture or water supply available, and the 
temperature conditions. 

Vegetation. — The belt of coniferous forests extend- 
ing from California northward through Oregon and 
Washington is the finest in all the world, both in regard 
to size and the variety of trees represented. For the 
growth of such luxuriant forests there is needed a certain 
amount of moisture, as well as a given range of tempera- 
ture conditions. Trees are not found in the arctic climate 
of the lofty mountain tops, nor in the extreme heat and 
dryness of the arid and semi-arid regions. The forest 
map of California is very interesting, for it shows how 
greatly the mountainous areas affect the climate, and 
through that the distribution of the trees. Each climatic 
zone, from the sub-tropical of the warmer valleys to the 
boreal or arctic on the mountain tops, is characterized 
by its peculiar vegetation. In the deserts even, where 
the rainfall is less than five inches annually, and some- 
times a whole year passing without any rain, there is an 
abundance of vegetation of a certain kind. The only 
parts of California where to the ordinary observer there 
is no vegetation at all, are the summits of those moun- 
tains which rise above the timber line, the alkali sinks 
of some of the desert regions, and the surface of recent 
lava flows. 

The forests are found within certain well defined limits. 
The upper limit, determined by the increasing cold of the 



Natural Resources 31 

lofty altitudes, is commonly called the timber line. This 
line varies with the exposure, being higher upon a south- 
erly slope than upon a northerly one. It also varies with 
the latitude, gradually rising toward the south and sink- 
ing toward the north. In the latter direction it gradually 
approaches the sea level, and beyond that point we find 
vast plains and tundras devoid of trees. The timber line 
upon Mt. Shasta reaches about 9500 feet. As we go 
toward the southern end of the State it is found higher 
and higher, until upon San Gorgonio, the highest peak 
of the San Bernardino Range, which rises 11,485 feet, the 
timber line is barely reached. The timber line, then, is 
about 2000 feet higher in the southern end of the State 
than in the northern. 

The lower limit of coniferous forest growth upon the 
mountain slopes is determined by the lack of moisture and 
is sometimes called the dry timber line. While there is 
but little of the State which rises above the cold timber 
line, there is a very large area which sinks below the dry 
timber line. 

Nearly all the valleys of the Coast Ranges and portions 
of the Sacramento are dotted with oaks of which that 
commonly known as the white oak is the most abundant. 
As we go up the mountain slopes these finally give place 
to the black oak which is most abundant in the lower 
portion of the coniferous belt. Considering now the 
coniferous forest, and this is the one which is by far the 
most important because it forms the basis of the lumber 
industry, we find the trees growing at sea level from 
about the middle of the coastal region northward. In 
the drier interior the lower limit is higher, being in the 



32 The Geography of California 

foothills of the Sierra Nevadas at an elevation of about 
2000 feet. As we go southward this lower limit of the 
coniferous forest rapidly rises, until we find the lowest 
of the lumber producing trees, the yellow pine, growing 
at an elevation of 5000 to 6000 feet. Upon the desert 
slopes the pinon pine is found lower than the yellow pine, 
and upon the San Gabriel and San Bernardino ranges 
another conifer known as the big cone spruce grows in 
the drier zone below the yellow pine. 

The zonal distribution of the different species in the 
coniferous forest is finely shown upon the slopes of the 
Sierra Nevadas. Passing through the belt of oaks we 
come to the digger pine. Above this is the great yellow 
pine belt in which are found many cedar and spruce. 
This zone shades into the main forest belt of sugar pine, 
spruce fir, and in the central Sierras the Big Trees 
{sequoia gigantea), and extends up to an elevation of 
nearly 9000 feet. Now we find ourselves in a forest 
formed largely of tamarack pine, red fir, white pine, 
mountain juniper, and finally alpine hemlock, and last of 
all, dwarf white pine. 

The most important lumber tree of the Coast ranges 
is the redwood (sequoia sempervirens), which is found 
from Monterey county north to the Oregon line. The 
belt is an irregular one, the trees reaching their greatest 
development, near, though not directly on the coast. The 
most important forests are in Humboldt and Mendocino 
counties, where they reach back 20 miles from the coast. 
The sheltered canons where there is abundant moisture 
contain the largest trees. 



Natural Resources 33 

The redwoods and Big Trees are wonderfully inter- 
esting, not only for their great size and the age which 
they reach, some being estimated to be as much as 4000 
years old, but also for their ancient history. The Sequoia 
is one of the oldest of tree genera, and the two California 
species are, with one exception, the only living repre- 
sentatives of a once widely distributed genus. It is 
probable that the Sequoia has inhabited this region for 
ages, since among some fossils which have been found 
in shales upon the coast of Monterey county there are 
forms which appear to represent the cones and needles 
of this tree. These shales belong to one of the most 
ancient rock formations of the Coast Ranges, and the 
discovery mentioned carries the genus back millions of 
years. It also tells us that very long ago there was a 
forest of Sequoias in the region of the present Santa 
Lucia Range. 

The magnificent forests of California are clearly related 
to certain definite temperature and moisture conditions, 
and the latter are dependent upon latitude, elevation and 
distance from the ocean. Consequently we see that in 
Southern California the forest areas are limited to the 
higher slopes of the different mountain ranges, the most 
important of which are the San Gabriel, San Jacinto, and 
San Bernardino groups. As we go northward to the 
Sierra Nevadas we find a great block of lofty mountains 
which offers an immense area lying between the arctic 
cold of its crest and the warm dry expanse of the Great 
Valley which is heavily timbered. This belt of timber 
varies from 30 to 50 miles wide, and extends north 



34 The Geography of California 

into the Cascade Range and westward through the Klam- 
ath mountains to the ocean. 

We must not think that these coniferous forests are 
the only ones of importance in California. There remain 
the broad-leaved trees which although of relatively less 
importance than in the eastern part of our country are 
nevertheless of great value. The broad-leaved trees mix 
somewhat with the coniferous forests along their lower 
limit, as is shown particularly in the case of the oaks, 
but in general they are scattered over the drier and 
warmer slopes of the foothills and valleys. There are 
many species of the oak, among which might be men- 
tioned the black oak, which is found in the lower edge of 
the coniferous forest; the white oak, which is scattered 
over the Sacramento Valley and the foothills and valleys 
of the Coast Ranges ; the tan-bark oak, live oak, etc. The 
oaks give the valleys a beautiful park-like . appearance, 
and add much to the attractiveness of this region. Upon 
the moist foothill slopes of the northern half of the State 
occur the laurel and madrone. The alder marks the 
streams in the mountains, and the sycamore is found 
along their courses in the central and southern coastal 
regions. Scattered cottonwoods occur near the streams 
in drier and more desert parts. 

Upon many mountain slopes where there have been 
fires, or the soil is too poor, or the rainfall is insufficient 
to grow trees, there is found a growth of shrubs com- 
monly known as chaparral. Among these are the cha- 
miso, California lilac, manzanita, buckthorn, sagebrush, 
and scrub oak. Upon some mountains, particularly in 



Natural Resources 35 

Southern California, this growth is so dense that it is 
almost impossible to make one's way through it. 

Previous to the coming of the whites the Indians 
burned the surface over in order to keep down the brush 
so that the game might be seen. This destroyed almost 
all the young trees, and if it had been continued would 
have resulted in the final disappearance of the forests. 
Since the Indians disappeared there has sprung up a 
dense young growth of trees and brush, and the problem 
of protection from fire is becoming a serious one. 

Fires, together with the ax of the lumberman, are fast 
depleting our valuable forests. The most valuable por- 
tions have passed into the hands of lumber companies 
which as a rule have regard only to the needs of the 
present, and leave the cut-over areas almost as barren 
as a desert. Following the destructive work of the 
lumbermen the rains wash the slopes, carrying away the 
humus and soil, and silting up our streams and bays. 
The long dry summers of California make it very neces- 
sary that we use every means in our power to increase 
the flow of the streams during this period, and irrepara- 
ble damage will soon be done if we do not take energetic 
steps to preserve the slopes, about the headwaters of the 
streams, in their natural condition. 

An important step has been taken by the Government 
in the withdrawal of -all its remaining timber lands from 
sale, and the formation of these into National Forests. 
The cutting of trees on these forests will be conducted 
with great care so as not to disturb the surface and kill 
the young growth. These forests are patrolled by rang- 
ers whose business is especially to look out for fires and 



36 The Geography of California 

protect the growth in every way from devastation. The 
National Forests now include nearly all the timbered 
lands of the State which have not passed into private 
possession. 

In addition to the areas included in the National For- 
ests certain other tracts noted for their scenery or natural 
curiosities have been set aside as National Parks. The 
largest and most important is the Yosemite. There are 
in addition to the Sequoia and General Grant parks, and 
in the Coast Ranges near San Francisco, Muir Woods, 
containing giant redwoods. The State controls one large 
park known as the Big Basin, in the Santa Cruz moun- 
tains, where there are many great redwood trees. 

The parks are to be maintained forever as public 
grounds in which no trees may be cut, and in which the 
animals are also protected. Unless we can arouse a more 
general sentiment in favor of the preservation of our 
scenic beauties and wonders these parks, quite limited 
in area, are the only portions of our wonderfully inter- 
esting and attractive mountains which will pass down 
to our descendants unmutilated. 

Those parts of the State too dry for forest growth are 
characterized by many peculiar and interesting forms of 
vegetation. Where the rainfall is not too small the val- 
leys and gentler hill slopes are covered with various kinds 
of grasses, and in the spring are brightly colored by 
many wild flowers. Deserts cover fully one-third of the 
area of California, and it is in them that the most striking 
forms of plant life occur. The surface of the desert is 
usually covered with shrubs of various kinds which have 
become adapted to the dry hot air and small rainfall. 



Natural Resources 37 

The Mexican creosote bush, scattered over the Mohave 
Desert, is a good example. Its leaves have become very 
small and its surface is covered with a resinous substance 
which prevents the evaporation of the moisture from the 
stems. Other plants, such as the cactus, have developed 
a fleshy body and spines in the place of leaves. 

In the Mohave Desert there are vast groves of a tree- 
like yucca, and in some of the canons upon the eastern 
slope of the San Jacinto mountains occurs the native 
Washington palm so much used in garden decoration. 
The mesquite, a peculiar thorny shrub bearing pods, is 
found growing along the desert water courses. 

We find in the semi-desert valleys and lower mountain 
slopes a very widespread shrub known as sagebrush. 
There are a number of species, and one that grows to 
almost the proportions of a tree. The white sage, abun- 
dant in Southern California, is valuable for bees, its 
blossoms furnishing the best of honey. 

The desert slopes exhibit a zonal arrangement of their 
vegetation similar to that of the high mountains. In the 
more arid portions of the Mohave Desert the chief shrub 
is the Mexican creosote bush. Upon higher slopes, 
where the rainfall is a little greater, we find the yucca. 
Ascending the slopes of the low mountains we come upon 
the desert juniper. Upon the higher mountains we finally 
reach the scrubby pifion pines, and wherever there are 
any mountains with sufficient height and rainfall we may 
look for yellow pine. 

The rainfall of the desert is very irregular in time of 
occurrence, as well as in quantity. It would be impossible 
for the desert shrubs to exist if they had not become 






38 The Geography of California 

wonderfully adapted to going without water, for some- 
times two years pass without any rain. Then, again, at 
times during the summer, heavy thunderstorms, which 
we call "cloudbursts" because of their severity, flood 
miles of country with water. In the desert we have forc- 
ibly presented to our attention the important part which 
plants and soil take in keeping the water from running 
off too rapidly. Here there is little besides bare rock to 
restrain the water upon the mountain slopes, and it runs 
off in floods and leaves the surface in a short time as dry 
as before. 

Occasionally there are spring rains which start into 
life innumerable seeds hidden in the sands. In the course 
of a few weeks the barren sandy desert is covered with 
a luxuriant carpet of many-colored flowers. In places 
their tints massed together may be seen from a distance 
of five or six miles. These flowers mature quickly, and 
with the coming of hot weather the seeds are dropped 
into the sand and the dried plants are blown away by 
the wind, and one would never suspect they had existed. 

Animal Life. — Few of us have any realization of the 
wealth of animal life in California sixty years ago. We 
have not only crowded the Indians aside and nearly 
exterminated them, but we have driven out the wild 
animals as well. We seem actuated with a desire to 
destroy. 

Early explorers and settlers have left records, telling 
of the variety and abundance of wild life, which almost 
pass comprehension. Bear, including grizzlies, abounded 
through all the region. Elk and antelope roamed the 
valleys in countless numbers, and the deer were easier 



Natural Resources 39 

to approach than the Spanish cattle that had gone wild. 
At certain seasons geese and ducks almost darkened the 
sky. 

We are not certain now that there are any grizzlies 
left in the State. The antelope and elk are practically 
gone, and geese and ducks are becoming scarcer every 
year. We are trying to protect the deer, but they may 
go the way of the other large game. 

Unless every one is aroused to the importance of pro- 
tecting what remains of our wild animals and birds one 
of the great attractions of life in the open will be gone. 
We must see that the laws which have been passed for 
their protection are enforced. The main hope lies in 
the education of the school children through the work in 
Nature Study. We must show them not only the impor- 
tance of preserving our forests, but also of saving the 
wild things which inhabit them. We must preserve the 
birds and animals, not only for their economic value, 
but also because they appeal to our love of nature. 

Many animals which wandered over the State a few 
thousand years ago are now extinct and are known only 
through their fossil remains. The most interesting 
remains, in the form of vertebrate skeletons, have been 
found in some tar springs a few miles west of Los 
Angeles. Among these are giant wolves, sabre-toothed 
tigers, horses, bison, camels, elephants, sloths, etc. 

The lower animals are affected more readily by climatic 
changes and changes in food supply than are men, for 
they are not able to migrate as intelligently. Each 
species or group of animals is adapted to certain condi- 
tions, and when these conditions change the animals 



40 The Geography of California 

either have to migrate, to some region where conditions 
are similar to those they are accustomed to, or die. From 
the numbers and species represented in the fossil remains 
referred to we must conclude, then, that there have been 
remarkable modifications in our Pacific Coast climate in 
very recent times. 

The animals are distributed over the State in climatic 
zones as are the plants, although being able to migrate 
with the seasons their boundaries are not as well marked 
as are those of plants. The animals of the desert, like 
the plants of the desert, have been strangely modified to 
suit the demands of their environment. One of the most 
remarkable examples of these is the desert tortoise, which 
has developed two water pockets so that it can go months, 
and perhaps years, without replenishing its supply. It is 
frequently found many miles from any water. 

Minerals. — A mere description of the minerals, or in 
fact of any of the natural resources of the State, is not 
geography. It is only when we consider them in the light 
of the conditions under which they occur, why they are 
distributed as they are, and what makes them commer- 
cially valuable, that their study can properly be consid- 
ered geography. A mere description of California with- 
out entering into causes and relations conveys little real 
information. The relations exhibited by the various geo- 
graphic factors in the region which we are studying is 
so intimate and so marked that we must make use of 
them in order to make our discussion intelligible. 

It is rather peculiar, conceding that the stories of great 
wealth of gold and silver led the Spaniards to send expe- 
ditions into Arizona and New Mexico, that they made no 



Natural Resources 41 

serious effort to explore California with this object in 
view. It is also interesting to note that many exploring 
expeditions had visited the State without getting any 
hint of the riches in the gravels of the Sierra streams. 
"What surprises me," says Captain Sutter, after Mar- 
shall's discovery, "is, that this country should have been 
visited by so many scientific men, and that not one of 
them should have ever stumbled upon these treasures; 
that scores of keen-eyed trappers should have crossed 
this valley in every direction, and tribes of Indians have 
dwelt in it for centuries, and yet that this gold should 
never have been discovered. I, myself, have passed the 
very spot above a hundred times during the last ten years, 
but was just as blind as the rest of them." 

The precious metals are generally found in mountain- 
ous regions where there have been important foldings 
and dislocations of the earth's crust, and where the 
ancient metamorphic rocks have been broken through by 
igneous eruptions. By metamorphic rocks, we mean such 
as slate, schist, quartzite, and marble. The slate and 
schist were once clays in the bottom of some old ocean. 
The quartzite was once sandstone, formed by the consoli- 
dation of sand grains ; and the marble was once limestone 
formed from the accumulation of shells and corals grow- 
ing upon an ocean reef. Heat and pressure far within 
the earth changed these loose and incoherent materials 
into the bright sparkling "metamorphic rocks." 

The whole Pacific border of both North and South 
America is wonderfully rich in a great variety of miner- 
als, and probably the most important cause for this is 



42 The Geography of California 

the oft-repeated and extremely severe disturbances which 
this region has undergone. 

During the folding and dislocation of the crust in the 
California region innumerable seams and fissures were 
formed in the rocks. Molten lavas broke through these 
and formed great dikes, or spread over the surface. The 
waters which everywhere fill the seams and crevices in 
the rocks were heated by the molten materials and dis- 
solved out some of the mineral constituents of these 
rocks. Where the temperature was very high steam was 
formed, and this forced the waters back toward the 
surface of the ground, where they still issue in many 
parts of the State in the form of hot or boiling springs. 
As the waters approached the surface they deposited 
some of the mineral constituents carried in solution, and 
thus gave us the veins of ore which we mine in so many 
places. In the quicksilver regions of Lake county sul- 
phur and cinnabar, and in one instance gold, are now 
being deposited in fissures of the rocks by hot springs. 
Minerals are also being deposited by the hot waters of 
the silver mines at Virginia City. 

Gold is found in greater or less quantity throughout 
ail the mountains of the State except the Coast Ranges. 
The larger part of the latter region is formed of rocks 
more recent than the period of gold deposition. It is in 
the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, however, where the 
first important discoveries were made, that we find by far 
the greater quantity of gold. Here are innumerable gold- 
bearing quartz veins, and one great system, in particular, 
known as the "Mother Lode," which extends through the 



Natural Resources 43 

counties of Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador and 
Eldorado. 

Gold was first found in the shallow gravels of the 
present streams, having collected there during the long 
ages that the quartz veins and enclosing rocks had been 
decaying. Searching farther, the miners discovered gold 
in the deep gravels of streams which long ago flowed 
down the slopes of the mountains. Great changes in the 
geography of our State have taken place since then. The 
Coast Ranges were largely beneath the sea at the time 
these ancient rivers existed, and over its bottom were 
accumulating the ooze made up of the remains of low 
forms of sea life which in the course of time was to be 
hardened, folded and lifted above the sea and furnish 
our great oil deposits. The streams of this ancient time 
flowing down the mountain slopes in the Sierra region 
gradually wore them away and the rock debris accumu- 
lated in broad, deep channels at the bottom of which 
were the grains and nuggets of gold derived from the 
quartz veins. 

Following the time of which we are speaking many 
changes took place ; the whole Pacific Coast region was 
lifted, the Sierra block was tilted toward the west, and 
numerous volcanic outbreaks took place. The streams 
went to work upon the steeper slopes and inaugurated 
the deep canons of the present time. They cut down 
through the old gravel channels, and so exposed their 
rich gold contents. 

Hydraulic mining, as the getting of the gold from the 
deep gravels is called, was very profitable, and was car- 
ried on until it was found that the washing down of the 



44 The Geography of California 

gravel banks was filling up the streams, when it was 
largely stopped. It is not the miner, however, who is 
most to blame for the filling up of our streams and bays ; 
it is rather the general destruction and erosion of the 
surface of the ground all over the State, caused by the 
cutting off of the vegetation, overstocking the grazing 
lands, and careless farming in general. 

Silver is also one of the important minerals found in 
California, but it is largely confined to the mountains of 
the Great Basin, in the eastern part of the State. Here 
are great beds of limestone, and the presence of silver 
seems in some way related to this rock. 

In Shasta county and other parts of the State there 
are extensive copper and iron deposits. 

The most important metal found in the Coast Ranges 
is quicksilver. Its presence seems to be related to volcanic 
action and the resultant hot springs which are most 
abundant north of San Francisco in the Clear Lake 
region. The oldest quicksilver mine is the New Almaden, 
near San Jose. 

The oil deposits of California are confined to the 
coastal region, where are the extensive beds already 
referred to as having been formed of the remains of sea 
organisms. These organisms are in part microscopic 
forms of life, and in part fish remains. Under the influ- 
ence of heat and pressure within the earth the organic 
matter was distilled off in the form of gas and oil and 
collected in porous sandstones. It is only recently that 
the extreme importance of oil or petroleum in California 
has been recognized, and now this mineral product over- 
shadows all others. 



Natural Resources 45 

Of coal, California has little, there being a few small 
beds of soft bituminous or lignite coal scattered here and 
there. During the great coal-bearing periods this region 
seems not to have been adapted to the production and 
preservation of land vegetation. 

Many mineral springs, some hot and some cold, are 
scattered over California. They are particularly numer- 
ous and varied in character in the Coast Ranges between 
San Francisco and Clear Lake, and are undoubtedly 
related as we have before said, to the late volcanic erup- 
tions in this region. Mineral springs have their source 
deep in the earth and are hence independent of the local 
rainfall. Such springs might be numerous in the desert 
regions because of this fact, while ordinary surface 
springs are, as we would expect, very scarce. 

Among the most interesting of the mineral deposits 
found in California are the salts occurring in the desert. 
Their presence and distribution are the direct result of 
definite geographic conditions. The Great Basin region 
is divided by mountains into innumerable valleys, each 
one of which is a basin in itself. There is now so little 
rainfall in this region that the most of these basins or 
sinks show no surface water, but during the Glacial 
Period the rainfall was so much greater that many of 
them contained lakes. Few of these lakes, however, 
overflowed their basins, and as a consequence the streams 
which were continually bringing to them small quantities 
of various minerals in solution finally made their waters 
quite brackish. Gypsum, common salt, glaubers salt, 
soda, borax, nitre, etc., were the most important of these 



46 The Geography of California 

minerals, but their relative amounts varied in the different 
lakes. 

As the climate became drier and the waters of the lakes 
shrank through evaporation the salts began to be depos- 
ited in the mud upon their bottoms. Now only a few of 
these lakes, such as Owens and Mono, remain, and their 
waters are so richly impregnated with soda and salt that 
these substances can be obtained in commercial quantities. 

In some of the old lake beds the water still gathers 
during the wet season, but disappears with the approach 
of hot weather. Others are dry all of the time, and the 
salts, which were left mixed with the mud and clay in 
their beds, through the process which we call efflores- 
cence, slowly come to the surface and form a crust. This 
is often of sufficient thickness to be scraped up and 
refined. Thus we get soda, borax and salt. The beds 
of salt existing in the Salton Sink before the formation 
of the recent lake from the overflow of the Colorado was 
undoubtedly derived from the ocean which once extended 
from the Gulf of California north to this region. 

In the southeastern portion of the Mohave Desert there 
are extensive beds of gypsum and rock salt which were' 
probably derived from salt water long ago when the 
region was occupied by an arm of the sea. 

Large quantities of salt are manufactured on the tidal 
flats about the southern arm of San Francisco Bay. Salt 
water is allowed to flow into artificially prepared ponds 
at intervals until, under the influence of evaporation, the 
water becomes saturated and the salt begins to crystallize 
out. 



Primitive Inhabitants 47 

CHAPTER VI. 
PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 

The first explorers found all parts of the State inhab- 
ited by Indians. They moved from place to place with 
the changing seasons and in search of food. They lived 
in very simple habitations usually made of sticks bent 
over in circular form, fastened at the middle and covered 
with mud or skins. They subsisted chiefly on acorns, 
roots and game. Along the coast, fish and mollusks 
were an important article of diet. They have been called 
in general terms "diggers," probably because of their 
dependence on roots. Their dress consisted of skins and 
woven bark fibre. They used stone implements, and made 
beautiful baskets. California offered in general a pleas- 
ant climate and abundant food supplies. The Indians 
were then without the necessity for great exertion, and 
were therefore indolent and lower in the scale of develop- 
ment than the primitive inhabitants in most other parts 
of our country. 

The California Indians did not take kindly to the civil- 
ization offered them by the Spanish missionaries, and 
being unable to stand confinement in close buildings, and 
association with the whites, they began to die off rapidly. 
The passing of the Indians was greatly hastened by the 
influx of gold seekers and settlers, who, although the 
Indians were generally inoffensive, unless first attacked 
or injured, embraced every opportunity or provocation 
to get them out of the way. Indeed, sometimes they were 
shot down with scarcely any provocation whatever. 



48 The Geography of California 

Now the Indians have practically disappeared from the 
more thickly settled portions of the State. 

With the Indians nearly extinct we are just awakening 
to the fact that their languages, songs, and myths possess 
exceeding interest, and if all could have been preserved 
might have thrown great light upon the history of the 
primitive peoples of Western America. The origin of 
these people and the length of time they have been here 
are important and interesting problems to be solved. 

Many stories were current during the early period of 
mining concerning the finding of skeletons and imple- 
ments in the gold-bearing gravels which were overlaid 
by lava flows in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada moun- 
tains. These stories were later discredited, but a renewed 
study of the Indians of California, the shell mounds 
about San Francisco Bay, and the limestone caverns of 
the Sierras, have recently shown that the origin of the 
Indians here is indeed remote, dating back perhaps thou- 
sands of years. 

Although the individuals of different tribes look much 
alike, yet there is a remarkable diversity in the languages 
which they speak. There are certain groups living side 
by side whose languages have almost no root words in 
common. Although the Indians are much more readily 
affected by geographic conditions than are people of a 
higher civilization, yet the differences between adjoining 
tribes are often so great that it must have taken a very 
long time to bring them about. 

Definite evidence of a very interesting character show- 
ing the long period of time which has elapsed since the j 
present Indians came is found in the shell mounds about 



Primitive Inhabitants 49 

San Francisco Bay. The excavations at Shell Mound 
Park, and also at Ellis Landing, near Richmond, show 
that the bases of these mounds are below the level of 
low tide, that at Ellis Landing being submerged nearly 
fifteen feet. That this change of level is not recent is 
shown by the extensive tidal marshes in many of the 
arms of San Francisco Bay. These marshes take a long 
time to form through the accumulation of silt, and are 
built up practically to accord with the present level of 
the water. 

The skeletons found in some of the caverns of the 
Sierra Nevada are believed to belong to a race antedating 
the present Indians, for the latter never bury their dead 
in caves, and have no traditions of ever having done so. 
Judging from all that we can gather, the earliest of our 
primitive inhabitants found the geography of the Cali- 
fornia region considerably different from that of the 
present. 



50 The Geography of California 



CHAPTER VII. 

SUCCESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF DIFFER- 
ENT OCCUPATIONS. 

It is not the object of the following paragraphs to trace 
the industrial development of California, for that in itself 
would not be geography, but rather to show how this is 
related to and grew out of geographic conditions. It 
must be borne clearly in mind that human activities, like 
those of all living things, are dependent upon the environ- 
ment. Those operations which we carry out successfully 
are successful not merely because of our endeavors, but 
rather because they are in harmony with the physical, 
chemical and biological laws surrounding them. 

It was nearly two hundred and fifty years after the 
discovery of Upper California before there was any 
attempt made by the Spaniards to take possession of the \ 
land and establish settlements. Then, actuated by two 
motives, ( 1 ) that of keeping the Russians from encroach- 
ing on the north; and (2) the conversion of the Indians, 
successive expeditions were sent out from Mexico until 
a chain of missions was established, twenty-one in num- 
ber, and scattered along, either on or near, the coast 
from San Diego to Sonoma. 

The Mission fathers came from a land where irriga- 
tion was all-important, and seeing in the new land some- 
what similar climatic conditions, placed the missions | 
where the soil was fertile and water could be easily] 
obtained for the gardens which were to follow. It was/ 
very essential that the establishments be self-supporting^ 



Successive Development of Different Occupations 51 

as soon as possible, for communication with Mexico, the 
source of supplies, was very uncertain and irregular. 
With the use of water the soil was found to produce 
abundantly, and a great variety of fruit and other prod- 
uce was grown in the gardens, while their cattle, horses 
and sheep increased wonderfully on the broad, grassy 
ranges. 

Settlers began to enter the country and were given 
large grants of land. Nearly all the coastal region, 
beyond which they seemed afraid to penetrate, was found 
well adapted to grazing, and the hills soon became cov- 
ered with countless thousands of cattle. 

Only such quantities of grain, fruit and vegetables 
were grown as could be consumed, for there was no 
market outside the sparse population, but the products of 
the cattle, such as hides and tallow, could be shipped with 
a profit, and so stock raising continued to be the chief 
industry. Spain for a long time tried to monopolize 
the trade of the Pacific, but the American ships which 
finally began to enter the Pacific and work their way up 
the west coast, brought so many necessary articles in 
trade for their hides and tallow that Spain no longer 
tried to enforce her claim. 

Affairs remained about the same for many years, and 
up nearly to the time of the American conquest. A 
number of Americans had entered California and obtained 
land, chief of whom was Captain Sutter, who settled on 
the Sacramento at the mouth of the American river. He 
had been raising grain and other produce for ten years 
at the time of the discovery of gold, and was in a position 
to aid the emigrants very greatly. 



52 The Geography of California 

During the height of the gold excitement nearly every 
other occupation was abandoned, but after the richest 
placers had become exhausted many turned toward agri- 
culture, for all products of the soil commanded fabulous 
prices. From this time dates the commencement of 
California's great agricultural and horticultural develop- 
ment, although for many years progress in these lines 
was slow. 

Stock raising increased and long remained the most 
important industry next to mining. It was commonly 
believed that the most of the valley lands back from the 
coast were too dry to grow anything, and irrigation on a 
large scale had not yet been thought of. The greatest 
increase of agricultural products was grain, until the 
Great Valley became one vast granary. Cattle and sheep 
continued to increase in numbers, getting their support 
largely from the public ranges. Sheep, in particular, 
spread throughout all the State, penetrating even to the 
most remote mountain valleys during the summers, until 
the country was practically devastated. Serious injury 
to the vegetation and to the meadows, resulting in the 
destruction of the soils and humus of the mountain slopes 
through erosion, began to be apparent. In order to make 
more feed it was a common habit of the herders to set 
fires which resulted in the destruction of untold quan- 
tities of timber. The unrestrained torrents swept the 
soil into the streams, valleys and canons were choked, 
and forested areas became in some cases almost a desert. 
The results of this overstocking are still to be seen in 
nearly all parts of the State. Where the rainfall was 



Successive Development of Different Occupations 53 

slight and the slopes steep, as in Southern California, 
these conditions were most noticeable. 

The Government finally began to awake to the manner 
in which not only the stockman, but the lumberman as 
well, was devastating the public domain, and finally came 
the inauguration of the present forest policy. Extensive 
forest reserves, or National Forests, as they are now 
known, were created and from these the stock are either 
excluded entirely or allowed to graze in only limited 
numbers. The stock industry began to decline, and now 
the great herds and the limitless ranges have nearly dis- 
appeared. 

Cattle could be driven to market and their products 
shipped by boat. Grain could also be shipped by boat, 
but it could not profitably be taken to the boats until 
railroads were built through the main valleys of the 
State, connecting both with tide water and with the East. 
We can find hardly any large agricultural district in the 
United States where waterways aided as little in the 
development of the country and in the transportation of 
crops as in California. If we make an exception of the 
lower Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and the 
various arms of San Francisco Bay, water transportation 
has aided very little in the development of California. 
The silting up of the streams since the early days, both 
because of hydraulic mining and the injury done the 
surface through careless agriculture and stock raising, 
has still more limited the use of water as a transporting 
agent. 

The Great Valley of California is most admirably 
adapted to water transportation, and the time will come 



54 The Geography of California 

when the streams will be deepened so that small boats 
can traverse the whole length of the Sacramento and 
San Joaquin arms of this valley. There are no engi- 
neering difficulties whatever in the way of the construc- 
tion of a canal from Buena Vista Lake at the extreme 
southern end of the San Joaquin Valley northwesterly 
through Tulare Lake to tidewater. 

The three stages in the development of the products 
of the soil in California are, (1) the raising of cattle 
on the great ranches; (2) the great grain ranches, and 
(3) the intensive culture, with diversified farming, of 
small ranches made possible through irrigation. 



Importance of Irrigation in California 55 



CHAPTER VIII. 

IMPORTANCE OF IRRIGATION IN 
CALIFORNIA. 

It was not until the value of irrigation upon a large 
scale was recognized that California could start upon its 
modern period of development. Since this development 
could not have preceded the era of local and transconti- 
nental railroads whereby a market in the East, and even 
in Europe, was assured we might with truth say that 
transportation is fully as important a factor as irrigation. 
Irrigation turned the fertile but dry soil into productive 
fields, while the railroads enabled the crops to be mar- 
keted. 

Owing to the absence of summer showers, even those 
parts of the State where the rainfall is heavy require 
irrigation for the growing of garden crops. In the drier 
parts of the State, however, many temperate fruits can 
be grown without irrigation by thoroughly cultivating 
the soil. The successful growing of oranges and other 
citrus fruits requires irrigation everywhere. 

Irrigation was first carried on upon a large scale in 
Southern California, where the extensive sagebrush val- 
leys were for a long time thought to be valueless. Where 
it once required several square miles to support a few 
half-starved cattle we now find a network of irrigating 
ditches supplying water to luxuriant orchards. 

Irrigation is rapidly being extended in the San Joaquin 
Valley and the big grain ranches are being cut up into 
small ones where an intensive culture will prevail. Vast 



56 The Geography of California 

irrigating systems are now being planned for the Sacra- 
mento Valley. This is the one great valley in the State 
where there appears to be abundant water for all needs. 
In the San Joaquin Valley and in Southern California 
the cultivation of the countless acres of rich soil available 
will be limited by the water supply. 

Huge reservoirs are being constructed at the heads 
of many streams and at available points on their 
lower courses to hold the water of the winter storms. 
These reservoirs will lessen the danger from floods and 
save the water for use in summer. The importance of 
lofty mountains for the growth of a great population in 
California is not always appreciated; if it were not for 
their cold summits, retaining the moisture in form of 
snow far into the summer, there would not only be less 
water available, but the problem of a summer supply 
would be much greater. 



Development of Industrial and Commercial Life 



CHAPTER IX. 

DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRIAL AND 
COMMERCIAL LIFE. 

The manufacturing industries of California have been 
slow in their development, partly because of the high cost 
of labor and partly because of the scarcity of coal, nearly 
all of which had to be imported. Then, besides, pig iron 
has never been produced here, although several iron ore 
deposits are known in the State, and all that was used 
had to be brought from the East. Recently the fuel 
question has been completely solved through the discovery 
of extensive deposits of petroleum. This is mostly a 
heavy oil and particularly well suited for use in boilers. 

Although manufacturing must go on increasing in 
importance and, notwithstanding the existence of many 
valuable minerals, California is destined to be pre-emi- 
nently an agricultural State. The great population which 
it will undoubtedly support in the future will largely 
depend upon the soil. 

The centralization of the commerce of the Pacific 
Coast upon the shores of San Francisco Bay has been 
assured since Portola first looked down upon its great 
expanse from the hills upon the south. 

Shut in, as California is, by mountain ranges and 
deserts, an extensive overland traffic never could have 
been developed with the means at the disposal of our 
forefathers. With the coming of the railroad which 
spans canons, tunnels through mountains, and reaches 
across the deserts, the barriers which Nature placed 



58 The Geography of California 

about California have been largely done away with. 
When the proposed great tunnel through the Sierras, 
on the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, shall have been 
completed San Francisco Bay will be as accessible to the 
interior of the continent as though the great river which 
was once supposed to have its source in the Rocky Moun- 
tains and flow westward into this bay, actually existed. 

Southern California has been so isolated by Nature 
from the rest of the State by the Mohave Desert and its 
bordering mountain ranges that we would expect what 
actually has happened, namely; that there would grow up 
here a large city which might rival San Francisco. Los 
Angeles has become a great center of trade and manufac- 
turing, and has extended her boundaries to San Pedro 
harbor which is being enlarged as a seaport. 

The particular advantages of San Francisco lie in its 
great land-locked bay which offers unrivaled facilities 
for foreign commerce, and for its accessibility to all 
Northern and Central California. The growth of Los 
Angeles is due essentially to its position as a supply 
point for a large interior section, as well as to its location 
in the heart of a great area of rich land susceptible of a 
great variety of productions, and possessing a climate 
which attracts many thousands of visitors yearly. 

San Francisco and Los Angeles can never be rivals in 
commerce and manufacturing. Nature did not intend 
it to be so, and it is to be hoped that the historic State 
-of California will forever remain undivided, notwith- 
standing the physical barriers separating the north from 
the south. 



PART II 

THE DIFFERENT NATURAL REGIONS OR 
PROVINCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



60 



The Geography of California 



CHAPTER X. 

NATURAL DIVISIONS OR PROVINCES. 

California is such a large State and has such a diversity 
of geographic features that, without the existence of 
certain natural divisions enabling us to take up a part at 
a time, it would be difficult to give an intelligent descrip- 
tion. Fortunately, such divisions do exist, and while they 
are not everywhere sharply defined yet they will aid us 
very materially. Making use of the drainage and the 
varying character of the relief we find that the surface 
of the State naturally falls into seven distinct regions or 
provinces. These are defined as follows : There is ( 1 ) 
the Sierra Nevada Mountains forming one great block 
of the earth's crust; (2) the Great Valley lying in the 
heart of the State and inclosed by the Sierra Nevadas 
and the Coast Ranges; (3) the Coast Ranges, a complex 
system of mountains lying between the Great Valley and 
the ocean; (4) Southern California, a. designation usually 
given to all that part of the State lying south of 
Tehachapi Pass, but which in the following pages will 
be applied to that part of this region lying upon the 
coastal slope. The remaining portion, including the 
Mohave and Colorado Deserts, belong in the Great 
Basin and will be discussed under that head; (5) the 
Klamath Mountains, occupying the northwest corner of 
the State, and extending over into Oregon. As we look 
at the relief map they do not appear separate from 
the northern Coast Ranges, but are in reality much higher 
and more rugged. The perpetual snow upon some of 



Natural Divisions or Provinces 61 

their lofty peaks, their rugged slopes and deep canons, 
as well as their mineral resources, cause them to resemble 
the Sierra Nevadas; (6) the Volcanic Plateau, distin- 
guishing the northeast corner of the State. From its 
broad elevated valleys rise mountain ranges and innum- 
erable cinder cones and volcanic peaks, most noted of 
which are Mts. Shasta and Lassen; (7) the Great Basin 
occupying one-third of the area of California. This 
region is distinguished by the peculiar fact, implied in the 
name, that it has no external drainage. None of the 
rain which falls in the basin ever flows away to the ocean, 
but is largely evaporated in its desert air. We must not 
fall into the error of thinking that the Great Basin is 
one single depression with a rim of mountains about it. 
It is, instead, broken up by hundreds of mountain ranges 
into basins of varying size and position, and varying in 
elevation from over 6000 feet above the sea to 278 feet 
below. The Great Basin occupies the eastern portion of 
the State, and extends its whole length. 

After taking up those phases of our subject in which 
we can best describe the State as a whole, we shall make 
a detailed examination of these different provinces in the 
order in which they have been given. 



62 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER XL 
THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS. 

The Sierra Nevada Range is the most striking, as well 
as the most important physical feature of California. 
These mountains contain rich stores of mineral wealth; 
their vast watershed supplies an almost unlimited volume 
of water; their forests are the grandest in the world, 
and properly conserved are inexhaustible ; their scenery 
is unsurpassed, and their value as a summer recreation 
ground places them ahead of all other areas of the kind 
in the United States. 

Taken as a whole, the range forms a great block of 
the earth's crust which has been lifted along its eastern 
side and tilted westward. Although the relief map shows 
the range swinging around westerly at its southern end 
and joining the Coast Ranges and continuous on the 
north of Mt. Shasta, yet geographers have limited it 
somewhat. It is customary to consider it as terminating 
on the south at the Tehachapi Pass, although there is 
no good reason why the short range known as the 
Tehachapi Range and extending westward to the Coast 
Ranges should not be considered a part of the Sierras. 
On the north, however, the granitic rocks of the Sierras 
terminate near the northern line of Plumas county, and 
from this point northward into Oregon the mountains 
are formed of lava. Consequently, beginning with Las- 
sen Peak and including Shasta and many other volcanic 
peaks, we speak of the mountains as the Cascade Range. 
The Cascade Range is formed of volcanic materials 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 63 

entirely, and its rocks are much younger than those of 
the Sierra Nevada. 

The Sierra Nevada Range, as we have defined it, 
has a general direction a little west of north, with a length 
of about 400 miles and an average width of 80 miles. 
The summit of the range lies close to the side along 
which the fracturing and uplift took place, so that the 
eastern slope is short and exceedingly bold and pictur- 
esque, while the western slope, as a whole, is long and 
gentle, although also fully as picturesque in detail. The 
western slope, then, both because it includes seven- 
eighths of the drainage, and because there is greater pre- 
cipitation on that side, includes nearly all the large 
streams. This fact becomes of great economic impor- 
tance when we consider the vast extent of fertile soil in 
the Great Valley which only needs the application of 
water to produce abundantly. If the slopes were 
reversed not only would the precipitation be smaller, but 
the most of the water would be lost in the deserts of the 
Great Basin. 

At the southern end the Sierra Nevada Range does 
not much exceed 7000 feet in elevation, Tehachapi Pass 
being 4025 feet. Here the southeastern face is not very 
high nor very abrupt, but as we follow it northward in 
a gently sweeping curve it becomes more lofty and impos- 
ing. This face or escarpment west of Owens Valley is not 
equaled for length, height and ruggedness by anything 
else in North America. The eastern front of the Teton 
Range, upon the borders of the Yellowstone Park, alone 
compares with it in scenic grandeur. 



64 The Geography of California 

Owens Valley has itself an elevation of 4000 feet above 
the sea, but the escarpment rises 10,000 feet above it, 
culminating in jagged peaks, the highest of which is Mt. 
Whitney, 14,501 feet. As viewed from the summit of 
the Inyo Range, lying on the opposite side of Owens 
Valley, the individual peaks do not stand out distinctly, 
and we get a full realization of the mighty Sierra wall, 
which, now of course much eroded, was originally formed 
by a two-mile vertical displacement of the earth's crust. 

North of Owens Valley extensive flows of lava have 
been built up against the range so that the escarpment 
does not appear so high, but as we approach Mono Lake, 
which lies in a basin caused by the sinking of the earth, 
we encounter another great escarpment more than a mile 
in height, Mt. Dana rising about 7000 feet above the 
waters of the lake. 

As we continue to trace the Sierras northward and 
approach Lake Tahoe, we find that the one great line of 
fracture and displacement of the earth gives place to 
three. The main eastern wall is well shown along the 
western side of Carson Valley. The western one forms 
the rugged mountains rising above Tahoe. The lake 
itself occupies a sunken block, and is directly due to a 
great flow of lava which formed a dam across the depres- 
sion. This is the largest mountain lake in the State, its 
surface having a height above sea level of 6225 feet, and 
a depth of 1635 feet. The scenery, pure water, and 
pleasant summer climate make the region prized as a 
place for summer recreation. 

Tracing the Tahoe Valley northward we pass a number 
of glacial lakes, among which are Donner, Independence, 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 65 

and Weber, and finally reach Sierra Valley. The lakes 
drain easterly through the Truckee river into the Great 
Basin, but Sierra Valley, lying in the same dropped 
earth-block, empties westward through the Feather river 
into the Sacramento. In following the Sierras northward 
to this point the crest of the range, or line of highest 
peaks, has formed the divide between the Pacific and the 
Great Basin, but Sierra Valley is some miles east of this 
crest, and the drainage, instead of going eastward, as we 
should expect, is west through the crest by means of 
Feather river, as before stated. It is difficult to explain 
this anomaly unless we assume that the crest has been 
slowly rising relatively to Sierra Valley, and the streams 
once established maintained their courses by continually 
deepening their channels. Going north and east from 
Sierra Valley we gradually rise until we reach the top of 
the eastern escarpment of the Sierras and look down 3000 
feet upon Honey Lake Valley, lying in the Great Basin. 
How different, then, are the opposite sides of the 
Sierra Nevadas. Looking at the range from the east 
we face a bold fault escarpment. Approaching it from 
the west we can at only few points get a glimpse of the 
summit, and have to travel many miles through gradually 
rising valleys and mountains before we get a good view 
of the summit. 

Mountain Passes. 

For more than 200 miles along the middle Sierras there 
are no passes much lower than 11,000 feet, while scores 
of peaks approach 14,000 feet in height. This continuity 
of the lofty crest is quite remarkable, and made access 



66 The Geography of California 

to the fertile valleys of California very difficult for the 
early emigrants. Because of this fact Fremont and party 
nearly perished; many of the Donner party died; and 
the Death Valley party were blocked and had to turn 
southward. Wagon roads were finally built over the 
Donner and Carson Passes, but on some of the other 
routes there were places where the wagons had to be 
taken apart and let down over precipices with ropes. 

The first railroad was built over the Donner Pass, but 
owing to the elevation of 7000 feet there has always been 
much trouble with snow. Beckwith Pass, leading from 
the Great Basin to Sierra Valley, is one of the easiest 
passes in the range, having an elevation of only 5000 
feet, but in this case we have an interesting illustration 
that it is not always the crest of the range that is most 
difficult to pass, for Feather river, the outlet of Sierra 
Valley, could not be followed down to the Sacramento 
Valley owing to the fact that it flowed much of the 
distance through precipitous canons. 

Until recently the highest pass occupied by a wagon 
road was Sonora Pass, 9624 feet in elevation, but now 
the State has opened a road through the Yosemite Park, 
Tioga Pass and Leevining Creek to Mono Lake. Tioga 
Pass has an elevation of 9941 feet, and is open for travel 
only three to four months each year. Mono Pass, near 
the head of the Tuolumne river, was much used by the 
Indians in crossing from the east to the Yosemite Valley. 
Mammoth Pass leads from the head of Owens river to 
the North Fork of the San Joaquin river, and is occupied 
by an important trail. Owing to the easy approach to 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 67 

this pass from the east it may some time be used by a 
railroad. 

Perhaps the easiest of all is Walker's Pass, across the 
southern Sierras to the valley of the South Fork of the 
Kern river, which has an elevation of 5280 feet. Here, 
however, the same difficulty is encountered as in the case 
of Beckwith Pass, for the Kern cannot be followed down 
to the San Joaquin Valley owing to the ruggedness of 
the canon. 

The Tehachapi Pass is approached very easily from 
the Mohave Desert, on the south, but the descent to the 
San Joaquin Valley, on the north, is so rapid that the 
construction of a railroad across it was quite a difficult 
undertaking. The old stage road from Los Angeles to 
Bakersfield made use of the Tejon Pass, which is situated 
between the Tehachapi Range and the San Emegdio 
Mountains. This is the easiest route connecting Southern 
with Central California, since in reaching the pass from 
the south the Mohave Desert is skirted instead of crossed 
as in the case of the road leading to Tehachapi. The 
Tejon Pass is interesting because it is situated directly on 
the Great Earthquake rift, and is in reality due to the 
presence of the rift. 

Geographical Story of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 

The Sierra Nevada Mountains are noted for many 
things : for their mineral wealth, their forests, their lofty 
peaks, and their wonderful canons, lakes and waterfalls. 
To understand these we must learn something of the 
history of the region, and this, when we know how to 
decipher it, can be read in the character of its surface. 



68 The Geography of California 

We must recognize, to start with, that mountain ranges 
are not permanent features of the earth. They begin as 
the result of disturbances within the earth, finally attain 
their greatest height, and are at last worn down through 
the crumbling of the rocks, and the removal to lower 
lands of this waste material through the agency of run- 
ning water and glaciers. We have here in California 
different mountain groups representing various stages 
in this process of upbuilding and wearing down. We 
shall also see that the particular stage of development in 
which we find a mountain range determines its economic 
importance to the district about. 

As one ascends the long gentle western slope of the 
Sierra Nevadas he is constantly reminded of a region of 
low relief which has been lifted and tilted and is now 
undergoing erosion. Long ago, then, the Sierras had been 
worn down so that the streams flowed through broad 
valleys, while the highlands along the divides rarely, 
except in the loftiest part of the range, approached the 
dignity of mountains. This old surface is shown better 
in the basin of the upper Kern river than in any other 
part of the mountains. The Kern Canon is about 2000 
feet deep and bordered by distinct shoulders with plateau- 
like tops which slope back gently to the lofty mountains 
on the crests of the main range of the Great Western 
Divide, a spur from this main range. This plateau once 
formed the bottom of the valley through which the 
ancient Kern flowed before the mountains were uplifted. 
Since this last movement the canon has been cut, and 
glaciers have modified the mountains along the divides, 
until through the action of sapping by the cirques they 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 69 

have been made very rugged and precipitous. The view 
from some lofty point near the Yosemite Valley shows 
a similar condition of .the surface. The valley appears 
as a deep precipitous cut in a rolling plateau which slopes 
from the San Joaquin Valley to the summit of the range. 
The present Sierras, then, show three dominant topo- 
graphic features, namely, the deep canons, the plateau- 
like shoulders bordering them, and the lofty glacier sculp- 
tured divides. 

That portion of the Sierras which is at present the 
highest, namely, the Kings-Kern-Kaweah divide, was 
also the highest in ancient times. Toward the north the 
range was low, and during the accumulation of the 
gravels of the ancient streams was nearly buried by these 
and the later volcanic materials. 

Finally there came a time when the movements of the 
earth's crust opened anew the fissures along the eastern 
base of these ancient mountains, and lava and streams of 
volcanic mud, similar to that which destroyed Martin- 
ique, flowed down many of the valleys and buried the 
river beds. The volcanic material was particularly 
abundant in the northern portion. Severe earthquakes 
undoubtedly occurred, and the mountains began to rise 
and tilt toward the west. In this way arose the steeper 
slope in which the streams finally eroded canons 2000 
to 3000 feet deep. 

The Scenic Features of the Mountains. 

The origin of the Yosemite Valley has been the cause 
of a great deal of speculation ever since it was known. 
There is, however, nothing which distinguishes it from 



70 The Geography of California 

the Hetch Hetchy Valley, the Kings, and the Kern river 
canons, save that it is deeper and more precipitous. All 
of these canons had the same origin. The agent which 
produced them was chiefly running water, although their 
last shaping was due to glacial action. The reason that 
the Yosemite Valley is more precipitous and picturesque 
than the others is because the granite here is cut by seams 
or joints which are predominantly vertical, or nearly so. 
The rocks decay along these seams, and as their material 
is removed by water, cliffs finally result. 

Waterfalls have originated chiefly through the differ- 
ence in rapidity of erosion of a small stream as compared 
with a large one. The Merced river cut down into the 
granite so much faster than Bridal Veil or Yosemite 
creeks that waterfalls of great height and beauty were 
finally formed. The Merced river itself enters the valley 
by two falls, the lower one of which is due to a hard rim 
of granite, and the upper to the fact that at the melting 
of the glaciers the stream was pushed out of its old 
channel and forced to take a new one, over a cliff. 

The glacial period was of great importance to Cali- 
fornia. The increased precipitation led to the formation 
of the numerous lakes in the Great Basin which are now 
generally dry, and from whose beds we obtain salts of 
various kinds. In the mountains the Glacial Period was 
most noticeable. The glaciers scraped off all the loose 
and disintegrated rock materials, leaving the surface bare 
and smooth, and carried this material to the end of its 
ice tongues in the canons, where water, in its turn, con- 
tinued to transport the gravel and boulders on toward 
the valley. After the melting of the ice it was a long 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 71 

time before vegetation again spread over the surface, and 
there are large areas where the trees are only just getting 
a foothold in the crevices of the rocks. 

The removal of the rock debris from the surface was 
very bad in one way, since it allowed the rains and the 
water from the melting snows to run off rapidly, thus 
increasing floods and making the streams lower in the 
summer. This effect was partly counteracted, however, 
by the morainal materials which were left in great piles 
and ridges here and there. This material acts as a 
sponge, absorbing the melting snows and allowing the 
water to go off slowly in form of springs. 

It was for the creation of the lakes that we have the 
most to be thankful to the glaciers for. The hundreds 
and almost thousands of the glacial lakes not only add 
immeasurably to the scenic features of the mountains, 
but they are of very great economic importance. They 
tend to equalize the flow of the streams, and hold back 
large quantities of water which then runs away gradually 
through the summer. A study of the floods of our coun- 
try will show that those streams which have many lakes, 
and an abundance of lakes is always found in recently 
glaciated areas, seldom have floods which do any great 
damage. Compare the upper Mississippi and the Ohio 
in this regard. 

The glacial lakes were formed in two different ways. 
In one case the debris left by a glacier made a dam across 
a canon and a body of water formed above. Such lakes 
may be quite deep, and are generally found near the 
terminations of the glaciers. Rock basin lakes are as a 
rule higher upon the mountains, and sometimes occur in 



72 The Geography of California 

step-like series, even to the very head of the stream, the 
last one occupying a cirque under the precipitous walls 
of the crest. Previous to the coming of the glaciers the 
rocks had everywhere decayed to a considerable depth, 
this being much more pronounced in some places than in 
others. As the glaciers passed down the slopes and into 
the canons they scraped off the soft and more or less 
loose rock material, finally tearing away portions of the 
solid rock where it was projecting in its path, and lastly 
grinding and polishing the surface. Where the rocks 
were decayed deeply basins were formed, the more resist- 
ant rock below causing the glaciers to rise and ride over 
it until another softer spot was found where it again 
scooped out a basin. We may say, then, that while the 
glaciers modified the canons, they did not originate them. 
The real agent was running water. 

We do not know, with any certainty, the cause of the 
Glacial Period in California, or whether it corresponded 
exactly with the period of glaciation in the northeastern 
States. We know, however, that about the time of gla- 
ciation the whole Pacific Coast region stood much higher 
above the sea than it does now. An elevation of 3000 
feet would again cause extensive glaciation in the Sierra 
Nevadas, as would also a comparatively slight increase 
in the amount of precipitation. Small glaciers still exist 
on the protected slopes of the highest peaks. 

The southern limits of the ancient glaciers in the 
Sierras was just above the lakes in Kern river canon, at 
an elevation of 6000 feet. As we go northward the indi- 
cations of glaciation reach lower, and in the Hetch Hetchy 
region was something less than 4000 feet. 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 73 

The Economic Importance of the Sierra Nevadas. 

The Sierra Nevada Range is now in the stage of geo- 
graphic development in which it is of the greatest eco- 
nomic value, as well as of scenic attractiveness. If it 
were older there would be less of the plateau-like upland 
remaining, and it is this which supports a large propor- 
tion of the forest. If the range were more nearly worn 
down the precipitation would be less, the climate warmer, 
the run-off of the water more rapid, and less remaining 
for use in the summer. The streams, also, are at a stage 
where they will produce a large amount of power for 
commercial purposes. As we shall see later the San 
Gabriel Range of Southern California has reached a 
stage of development in which there are practically no 
agricultural lands available. In the Sierra Nevadas there 
are agricultural lands upon the plateau-like shoulders 
between the canons, and at many points in the canons 
themselves where erosion has resulted in producing val- 
leys of considerable size. Several of the larger valleys 
in the northern Sierras, such as Sierra and Indian Val- 
leys, are not the result of erosion, but of faulted and 
displaced earth blocks. 

Mining was the industry which first brought this 
region into prominence, and the population was for a 
time very large. As placer mining decreased people 
drifted away, and the region is dotted with almost aban- 
doned towns. The most important of the old mining 
towns remain, drawing their support largely from quartz 
mining. Those along the Mother Lode include Mariposa 
at the south, then Coulterville, Sonora, Angels Camp, 



74 



The Geography of California 



San Andreas, Jackson, Plymouth and Placerville, and 
farther north Grass Valley, Nevada City, Oroville and 
Quincy were once important places. 

The gold of the ancient river beds is far from being 
exhausted, but hydraulic mining has largely ceased owing 
to the damage done by the tailings to the valley lands. 
One can travel for miles in Nevada and Placer counties 
without being out of sight of abandoned placer and 
hydraulic diggings. Thousands of acres of land once 
valuable for agricultural purposes is now given over to 
rock heaps. Much dredging for gold is now being car- 
ried on in the bottom lands of the Feather river, below 
Oroville, and it is proposed to dredge large areas along 
the Merced river below Merced Falls. Although much 
gold will undoubtedly be obtained, yet it is certain that 
in the long run the loss of these fertile bottom lands will 
be greater than the profit in gold taken out. 

Quartz mining is of a more permanent character than 
either placer or hydraulic mining, and does not injure 
the surface to the same extent. Some of the mines on the 
Mother Lode are down over 3000 feet and are still 
obtaining a fair grade of ore. 

Dairying is a profitable industry in many of the upland 
valleys, particularly of the northern Sierras. Sheep are 
now kept out of many parts of the mountains, and the 
number of cattle which are allowed to graze in the 
National Forests is limited. It is of the utmost impor- 
tance that we take the best care of the watersheds of our 
streams, that our summer water supply may not be 
affected. 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 75 

The forestry question in the Sierra Nevadas is of the 
utmost importance. We have here one of the finest tim- 
ber supplies remaining in the world, and it behooves us 
to take good care of it. So much of the timber has 
passed into the hands of corporations who take no care 
in their lumbering operations that the solution of the 
problem of conservation is difficult. 

The timber in the National Forests is cut under the 
supervision of the rangers; only mature trees are felled, 
and the refuse, which ordinarily adds so much to the 
danger of fire, is burned. When the white people first 
came much of the lower timber belt had an open park- 
like character, owing to the fact that the Indians fre- 
quently burned off the surface to keep it clear so they 
could hunt. This has now largely grown up to trees and 
brush ; in fact the young timber will in a few years be an 
important source of lumber. Those who advocate the 
burning of the country as the Indians did forget that 
this burning killed all the young trees, and if it had been 
kept up would in time have resulted in the almost total 
destruction of the forest.' In past years there has been 
the most criminal waste of this magnificent forest. In 
order to stop it entirely, and also lessen the danger of 
fire, the Government should supervise the cutting even 
on private lands. The devastation which the most of the 
lumber companies leave in their operations makes it neces- 
sary that we do something at once. 

The water power available in the numberless streams 
of the Sierras is of great magnitude, and the development 
of transmission lines makes it possible to transport this 



76 The Geography of California 

power to any point in the State, instead of having to use 
it on the spot, as in past years. 

The same water, after having supplied power, can be 
utilized for irrigation in the Great Valley. We might 
with truth say that the water furnished by the Sierra 
Nevada Mountains is one of the most important assets 
of California. Hundreds of thousands of acres of rich 
land in the Great Valley would remain comparatively 
useless if it were not for this water. There is little doubt 
that every particle available will eventually be used, par 
ticularly in the San Joaquin Valley. We also see tha';, 
the Sierra water, taken from Owens river and the easten 
slope of the Sierras is destined to enable Southern Cali 
fornia to support a much larger population than it other- 
wise could. The 200-mile aqueduct built at enormous 
expense shows the importance of the water supply for 
the drier parts of California. 

In our description of the Sierra Nevada Mountains it 
will not do to pass over the use of this region as a sum- 
mer recreation ground. The value of the mountains for 
this purpose cannot be overestimated, and it is being 
appreciated more every year. There is no region in thf 
United States better adapted to outings for health and 
recreation. The absence of rain, except for occasional 
thunder storms, the bracing air ©f the forests, and the 
magnificent scenery, make these mountains more valuable- 
for our health and happiness than for many of the so- 
called economic uses. The heat of the interior valleys in 
summer, as well as the cold fogs upon the coast, turn 
people in the direction of the mountains. 



The Sierra Nevada Mountains 77 

The public parks, such as the Yosemite National Park, 
will be forever kept in their natural wild state, and here 
the birds and animals are to receive equal protection with 
the forests. It is to be hoped that a much larger area 
than the parks will be preserved as Nature made it, for 
looking at the question even from a commercial stand- 
point, there will eventually be more money left in Cali- 
fornia by tourists and visitors, than if we cut away the 
forests, sell their products and leave the mountain slopes 
desolate and exposed to erosion by the winter storms. 



78 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER XII. 
THE GREAT VALLEY PROVINCE. 

General Characteristics. — The Great Valley de- 
serves our attention next because it lies at the foot of the 
Sierra Nevada Mountains, in the very heart of the State. 
Its vast stretches, now but sparsely settled, will some 
time hold the bulk of the agricultural population of 
California. 

The Great Valley is practically a plain 400 miles long? 
and 50 miles wide. It gradually rises through foothills' 
to mountains which inclose it on all sides. The northern 
arm is known as the Sacramento Valley, the southern as 
the San Joaquin, and each is drained by a river of the 
same name. These two streams coming from opposite 
directions unite in the western center of the valley and 
flow westward through the Strait of Carquinez to San 
Francisco Bay. 

The Great Valley is one of the oldest of the present 
existing physical features of California. It was formed 
far back in the history of the earth through a down- 
folding of the earth's crust. It has been either a valley 
somewhat as it appears today, a brackish or fresh-water 
lake, or an arm of the sea throughout the long time dur- 
ing which the Sierra Nevadas were being uplifted and 
worn down, while volcanoes and lava flows were forming 
the volcanic plateau of the northeastern portion of the 
State, and while the Coast Ranges were being folded 
and dislocated in earthquake movements, and the ocean 



The Great Valley Province 79 

was invading their valleys or retreating from their pres- 
ent shores. 

For long ages rock waste brought by the streams from 
the inclosing mountains has been accumulating in the 
bottom of the Great Valley. Wells put down 3000 feet 
fail to reach the bottom of these deposits, and the process 
is still going on. To permit of this accumulation we must 
understand that the valley bottom has been slowly sinking 
relative to the mountains. 

Drainage. — The combined Sacramento-San Joaquin 
river was once a stream of considerable length flowing 
down through San Pablo and San Francisco Bays and out 
through the Golden Gate. Owing to the recent sinking of 
the coast this river was so completely drowned that but 
little now remains. Tidal influence is now felt as far 
inland as Sacramento and Stockton. Another effect of the 
subsidence was the flooding of the lower part of the Great 
Valley, so now at the junction of its two rivers there is 
an extensive delta and marsh region which is more or 
less overflowed during the spring freshets. This region 
is slowly being made into dry land as a result of the depo- 
sition of the silt brought down by the muddy waters. 
The surface is more or less overgrown with tules. Large 
areas have been reclaimed by levees and are found to be 
exceedingly productive. 

The channel of the lower Sacramento river has for 
many miles been built up, making its immediate banks 
higher than the country lying back, so that in flood time 
the banks are dry, while the country on either side is 
occupied by vast bodies of water. While the immediate 
effect of the silt brought down from the hydraulic mines 



80 The Geography of California 

was to shoal the beds of the Sacramento, Yuba, Feather 
and other rivers, yet the ultimate effect might be made 
very beneficial by turning the silt-laden waters into and 
reclaiming the marshy lowlands. 

When the gold miners first came small boats could 
ascend the Feather river to Marysville, and the Sacra- 
mento as far as Red Bluff, but these streams have been so 
filled that now they are scarcely navigable above the city 
of Sacramento. The San Joaquin carries less water and 
has been used less than the Sacramento, although with a 
little dredging it would be navigable as far up as the - 
mouth of the Merced. 

The Merced, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, Mokelumne and 
Cosumnes rivers have cut well defined channels below the 
level of the valley on their way to their junction with the 
San Joaquin. Farther south the Kings, Kaweah and 
Kern rivers, carrying at most seasons a volume of water 
which is relatively less in relation to the quantity of sand 
and silt which they are bearing along, have built up 
extensive deltas above the level of the valley. A study of 
the map will show that these streams, with their many 
channels, some of which are used one season, some 
another, have a true delta character. Like the streams 
of the arid region at flood time their channels are often 
higher than the adjacent land, so that their waters are 
forever changing their course. 

The streams which flow into the San Joaquin Valley 
from the Coast Ranges are small, and dry up in the 
summer, while those from the Sierras are large and 
numerous. The consequence is that the main drainage 
lines of the San Joaquin Valley are forced over toward 



The Great Valley Province 81 

the west side by the delta accumulations on the side next 
to the Sierras. 

The Kings river has built so large a delta or debris 
cone as to block the once continuous drainage of the San 
Joaquin Valley, and behind the dam thus formed there 
once existed a large permanent body of water known as 
Tulare Lake. In late years so much water has been used 
in irrigation that the lake has at times completely dried 
up, although now (1910) there is a considerable body of 
water there. 

The Kern river, in building its debris cone, formed 
another low dam across the valley, giving rise to Buena 
Vista and Kern Lakes at the extreme southern end of 
San Joaquin Valley. At times of high water Buena Vista 
Lake discharges northward into the Tulare basin, and 
also southeastward into Kern Lake. An old beach with 
clam shells on it in the edge of the hills, 200 feet above 
Buena Vista Lake, tells us that once a large lake occupied 
the whole southern end of the San Joaquin Valley. 

Climate. — As a result of the Coast Range barrier the 
western sides of both the San Joaquin and Sacramento 
valleys are much drier than the eastern, and consequently 
much more in need of irrigation. In the former no per- 
manent streams flow eastward from the Coast Ranges, the 
main drainage lines, as in the case of the Sierras being 
westward. Much of this land will bear grain crops on 
average years, while other large areas are very dry, with 
only a scanty vegetation, and suitable for grazing during 
the spring months. 

Cottonwood trees are scattered over the deltas of the 
Kern and Kaweah rivers, and near the mountains the 






82 The Geography of California 

latter delta contains some oaks, but generally the Sar er 
Joaquin Valley is destitute of trees save for narrovv ^ e 
fringes along the streams. At Bakersfield the annual^ 
rainfall is only about six inches, but this increases north- 
ward until at Red Bluff it is twenty-five inches. Owing t< ^ 
the heavier rainfall a large portion of the Sacramentc. a _ 
Valley is dotted with oaks. Some of these reach a grea< so 
size, and in places give the country the appearance of ;- t 
natural park. anc j 

The climate of the Great Valley is marked by muc^ a 
greater extremes than is the coastal region. The sum ^ e 
mers are very warm, but as the air is dry the high tern vj 
perature is more easily borne than is much of the summe in( j j 
weather in the Eastern States. The winters are scarcel^g "* 
any cooler than those in Southern California, so thal^ 
citrus fruits are grown in perfection. Experiments have j 
shown that an orange belt extends practically the whole 
length of the eastern side of the valley from Bakersfield^ 
to Oroville. The climatic conditions are particularly 
favorable for oranges where the valley merges into th * 
lower foothills. It is a peculiar and interesting fact tha, 
oranges ripen a month to six weeks earlier at Orovih\ 
than in Southern California. This is probably due to the 
fact that the fruit belt of Southern California is not shui 
off from the ocean by lofty mountains as is that of 
Central California. The cool winds penetrating fa. 
inland in the former make the growth of fruits slower., 

We find another illustration of this fact in the 

tie 

Vaca Valley region lying on the western side of thf- j 
Sacramento Valley and close under the Coast Ranges 
Here such fruits as cherries, apricots, etc., are producer^ 



re 



The Great Valley Province 83 



earlier in the spring than in any other portion of the 
'State. 

Another peculiar feature of the Great Valley, and one 
which is not always pleasant, is the existence of winter 
' fogs which, from their prevalence in the tule covered 
delta region, are known as "Tule fogs." Occasionally 
during the clear cool weather of midwinter these fogs 
spread over the whole valley. 

Industrial Development. — It was at one time 
thought that the vast semi-arid plains of the San Joaquin 
Valley were only valuable as stock ranges. Then grain 
w; 3 sowed, but produced little in dry years. The country 
?,as desolate in the extreme. There were few comfortable 
homes and almost no gardens. 

With the introduction of irrigation all began to change. 
. The large ranches were cut up into small ones which were 
much better taken care of and produced a better living. 
What irrigation will do is shown in the thousands of 
acres of vineyards, orchards and alfalfa fields spread over 
the delta of the Kings river. 

The greatest development of the orange industry up 
to the present has taken place about Porterville. Not 
only is the climate much like that of Southern California, 
but the scenery is very similar. Unlike the most of the 
western slope of the Sierras the valley lands here extend 
up to the very base of lofty mountains whose snow- 
covered crests are visible from the orange orchards. 

Irrigation is now being extended to the Sacramento 
Valley on a large scale, and many of the formerly unim- 
proved grain and stock ranches are being cut up and 
supplied with water. Important reservoirs are being 



84 The Geography of- California 

built in the mountains to conserve the flood waters for 
summer use. The most important of these is on the 
upper Pitt river, which rises in the remote northeastern 
corner of the State. 

Since the Great Valley is mostly underlaid by very 
recent accumulations we would not expect its mineral 
resources to amount to much. A small bed of coal 
occurs at lone. At Lincoln are deposits of clay which 
are being utilized for tiles and pottery. Natural gas has 
been found in deep wells at Stockton, and is abundant in 
the vicinity of the oil deposits. Artesian water is found 
at many points in the lower portion of the San Joaquin 
Valley. 

The one important mineral substance which occurs 
upon the borders of the southern San Joaquin Valley is 
petroleum. The fields have increased in extent and im- 
portance until this region has become the great oil center 
of the State. The important fields are the Kern- River, 
Coalinga, McKittrick, Sunset and Midway. The latter 
is of the greatest extent, and in the spring of 1910 
occurred the wildest excitement ever known since the 
first discovery of gold. In the Sunset field is the greatest 
oil well in the world, which for several months spouted 
oil into the air at the rate of over 40,000 barrels every 
twenty-four hours. The oils here are better suited for 
fuel than for illuminating purposes. Large quantities of 
gasoline, distillate and lubricants are produced in the 
refining process. 

The cultivation of the soil in the Sacramento Valley 
was first undertaken by Captain Sutter, who obtained a 
grant from Mexico and built a fort near the mouth of 



The Great Valley Province 85 

the American river. Shortly after the discovery of gold 
General Bidwell planted orchards near the present town 
of Chico. 

All those who set out orchards during the early days 
of the gold excitement, mastered the climatic conditions 
which were so different from the East, and successfully 
applied irrigation, received almost fabulous prices for 
what they could raise. 

Geographic conditions were all-important in determin- 
ing the locations of the first towns. Sacramento early 
became the main center for distribution of supplies to 
the miners because boats of large size could readily 
ascend the Sacramento river to this point. Before 
hydraulic mining caused a shoaling of Feather river, 
boats ascended as far as the present city of Marysville. 
This fact determined the location of the place. Red 
Bluff owes its location to the fact that boats could ascend 
the Sacramento to that point. 

Sacramento, in addition to being a supply point for 
the mines, was also the terminus of the overland route, 
so that nearly all the emigrants arriving by wagon team 
went there first. The place also became the terminus of 
the first overland railroad, and later an important railroad 
center. It is now an important shipping point for early 
fruit and vegetables destined for the East. 

Stockton also grew up as a town because of its relation 
to water transportation. Supplies were sent to the south- 
ern mines from this point, but as the mines became less 
important its position with regard to a vast and fertile 
agricultural region has become the determining factor in 
its destiny. 



86 The Geography of California 

The position of both Bakersfield and Fresno were 
determined in a general way by the delta lands of the 
Kern and Kings rivers, respectively. In a region which 
is as dry as a large part of California the presence of an 
abundance of water is one of the first considerations in , 
the location of the towns and cities. 

There is no more fertile and easily cultivated region { 
in the world than the vast area of marsh and overflow 
lands lying at the junction of the San Joaquin and Sacra- 
mento rivers. The character of the soil, together with : 
the abundance of moisture, particularly adapts this region , 
to the growing of vegetables. The lands have to be 
protected with dikes or levees, but during severe floods 
these are frequently broken down. Studies are now being 
carried on as to the best methods for taking care of the 
flood waters of this region and filling the marshes. 
Investigations are also being made as to whether this 
region is rising or sinking. 

The Great Valley of California is most exceptionally 
situated for the support of a great population. It is 
rimmed with mountains from which the drainage lines 
descend and converge at one point. From this point, at 
the strait of Carquinez, there is communication with the 
whole world by deep-water vessels. Large sailing vessels 
can come up through the strait and receive their loads 
at the very door of the valley. When the Sacramento 
has been deepened to Red Bluff, and the San Joaquin 
dredged and a canal built from it to the Tulare and Kern 
basins then this great region will be prepared to begin its 
boundless development. 



The Great Valley Province 87 

In addition to this possible water transportation the 
Great Valley is at present connected with the rest of the 
country by four important railroads which make use of 
depressions or passes in the rim of mountains. On the 
east Donner and Beckwith passes are used. On the 
south Tehachapi, and on the north the Sacramento river 
canon gives access to the northern part of the State, 
from whence Oregon is reached by the Siskiyou Pass. 
There are other passes, as we have seen, which will 
doubtless be used as the population increases. 



88 The Geography of California 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE COAST RANGES. " 

As far as we can learn Fremont was the first to use 
the name Coast Ranges for the mountains bordering the 
coast of California. At that time too little was known of 
the geography of this region for the name to have any 
very exact meaning. Although in reality mountains are 
practically continuous along the coast from Oregon to 
Southern California, yet, as far as our State is concerned 
geographers have come to apply the term Coast Ranges 
much as Fremont used it, meaning that portion of the 
mountains bordering the Pacific Coast which lie between 
the Great Valley of California and the ocean. 

The Klamath Mountains, occupying the northwest 
corner of the State, are more lofty and Sierra-like than 
the Coast Ranges, contain important deposits of gold and 
copper, and for the most part consist of older rocks. 
These criteria are made the basis for the demarkation 
between the two, which forms a pretty direct northwest 
and southeast line,- according closely with the lower 
Klamath river and the South Fork of Trinity river, from 
the head of which it is carried across the crest of the 
range south of that group of peaks known as the Yallo 
Bally Mountains. 

The Coast Ranges are limited on the south by a line 
drawn westerly from the extreme southern end of the 
San Joaquin Valley, a line which closely accords with 



The Coast Ranges 89 

the northern boundary of Santa Barbara county. We 
find this marked topographically by the Cuyamas Valley 
and the Santa Maria river, and further by the fact that 
to the south the mountains extend nearly east and west, 
while the Coast Ranges have a northwest and southeast 
direction. 

In describing the Coast Ranges we have to do, as the 
name implies, with a group or system of mountains in 
which there are a number of distinct ranges. They do 
not constitute a simple mountain block like the main 
part of the Sierra Nevadas. The folding of the earth's 
crust and the formation of fracture and earthquake lines 
in a general northwest and southeast direction have 
given origin to the series of parallel mountains and val- 
leys. The disturbances of the earth's crust in this region 
have been many and severe, affecting now one part, now 
another part. 

A bird's-eye view from some lofty point shows the 
ranges with the intervening valleys which make up the 
system extending a little more to the west than the gen- 
eral trend of the coast. This results in rocky headlands 
where the mountains come out to the sea, while behind 
the headlands, and lying at the mouths of the valleys, 
are bays with sandy beaches penetrating the land more or 
less deeply. Our bird's-eye view also shows that there 
are comparatively few isolated mountain peaks, but many 
somewhat uniform valleys and ridges which in a broad 
way seem quite monotonous, but when viewed in detail 
appear to be extremely varied and attractive. Many 
passes and connecting valleys break up the region into a 



90 The Geography of California 

great complexity of features so that it is impossible to 
describe its geographic development as a whole. 

According to the records shown in the geographic 
features, as well as in the rocks, no other portion of the 
United States has had such a remarkably complicated 
history. Nowhere else do we find stronger evidences of 
the instability of the earth's crust. One part has been 
folded, another has been raised or dropped along crustal 
fracture lines. Then, here and there volcanic action has 
been severe and long-continued. The region of the 
Berkeley Hills was quite recently occupied by a fresh- 
water lake, while another large lake occupied the lowland 
district about the southern arm of San Francisco Bay. 

The geographic features have been further complicated 
by the movements of the land relative to the sea. At one 
time, perhaps, there were many such times, the land 
stood much higher than now, and the shore lay a varying 
distance to the westward of the present shore, while the 
streams cut channels, in some places canons, across what 
is now a part of the submerged continental plateau.' 

At another time the Coast Ranges were submerged 
until nearly buried beneath the waters of the Pacific. 
They were then practically a group of islands and penin- 
sulas separated from the Sierra Nevadas by a broad, deep 
bay which occupied the Great Valley. Earthquakes and 
volcanic outbreaks, and changes of the level of the land 
seem never to have left the country at rest. We once 
thought that it was at rest, and that there would be no 
more changes, but the great earthquake of 1906 taught 
us better. 



The Coast Ranges 91 

It was formerly believed that the Coast Ranges were 
newer than the Sierra Nevadas, and that the continent 
grew progressively westward from the Rocky Mountains. 
This is a mistake, for there was extensive land here long 
before there was any Sierra Nevada Range. The granite 
exposed in the Santa Lucia, Gavilan and Santa Cruz 
Ranges, on the Farallone Islands and at Point Reyes, 
tells us there was land here long ago, and it was on this 
ancient land that the earliest known representatives of 
the Sequoias lived, as has already been mentioned. 

The complexity of the geography of the Coast Ranges 
is increased by the fact that the underlying rocks vary 
greatly in their resistancy to decay and erosion. Valleys 
may be formed where the rocks are soft, and where they 
are resistant picturesque peaks may be developed as is 
illustrated in the case of the San Luis Buttes. These are 
the most striking mountain peaks, due to purely erosion 
effects, which we have. They represent ancient igneous 
eruptions which once broke up through the crust and 
now stand out because they are hard and the rocks 
around them are soft. They extend in line from the 
town of San Luis Obispo northwesterly to the ocean, 
and terminate in a great rock known as Morro Rock 
which rises bare and rugged to a height of nearly 600 
feet. 

South of San Francisco there are three prominent 
mountain axes. The southern one, which lies along the 
ocean the major part of its length, is known as the Santa 
Lucia. This is the most rugged of the mountains 
included in the Coast Ranges. The lofty points and deep 
rugged canons are quite Sierra-like in character. The 



92 The Geography of California 

main crest is about 4000 feet high, while Santa Lucia, 
the highest peak, reaches nearly 6000 feet. For many 
miles the range rises with extreme ruggedness from the 
ocean in which its southern base rests. The continental 
shelf, which borders almost the whole of California, is 
absent here, so that the range really has its base in the 
depths of the Pacific. On the south it merges into the 
Cuyama Range of Santa _ Barbara county, and on the 
north it terminates at Point Pinos, and forms the beau- 
tiful Monterey Bay. 

The middle axis of the southern Coast Ranges is the 
Santa Cruz-Gavilan Range, which extends from Point 
San Pedro, a few miles south of San Francisco, south- 
easterly until it finally merges in the Mt. Diablo Range. 
The highest peaks of the Santa Cruz Mountains rise to 
3500 feet, while the Gavilan reaches about 3000 feet. 
This axis is worn down in the middle, where the Pajaro 
river crosses it, so as to make really two parts, as men- 
tioned above. 

The northern of the Coast Range axes, and the one 
forming the watershed, is commonly known as the Mt. 
Diablo Range. The name is derived from the double 
peak rising to a height of 3849 feet a short distance 
south of the strait of Carquinez. Mt. Diablo is the 
most prominent landmark seen from across the Great 
Valley as one journeys toward San Francisco. 

A western spur of the Mt. Diablo Range is known as 
the Contra Costa Hills, inclosing San Ramon and Liver- 
more Valleys. The southern portion of the range lying 
opposite the Santa Clara Valley is the Mt. Hamilton 
Range, rising 4210 feet, and containing the Lick Observ- 



The Coast Ranges 93 

atory on its culminating peak. In a southeasterly direc- 
tion the range decreases in height, but finally rises again 
in San Carlos Peak, in southeastern San Benito county, 
to a height of nearly 5000 feet. From this point the 
mountain axis which we have been describing rapidly 
sinks, exhibiting several low passes, and finally blends 
with the San Emegdio Mountains south of the San Joa- 
quin Valley. 

North of San Francisco Bay we still find exhibited 
the northwest and southeast parallelism of the mountains 
and valleys of the Coast Ranges. Here Napa and 
Sonoma Valleys divide the region into three mountain 
axes. North of these valleys we can no longer distinguish 
such a division, and from Clear Lake on to the Klamath 
Mountains we appear to be dealing with one broad and 
topographically complex range. 

The highest peaks of the Coast Ranges are found 
along the crest north of Clear Lake. Here Snow Moun- 
tain rises to about 8000 feet, while other peaks connecting 
with the Yallo Bally Mountains are nearly as high. To 
the southeast the Coast, Ranges also blend with lofty 
mountains, the San Emegdio Range, one peak of which 
reaches nearly 9000 feet. 

Drainage. — The last submergence of the coast flooded 
the only large river of the Coast Ranges. San Francisco, 
San Pablo, and Suisun bays now occupy the former 
channel of the Sacramento-San Joaquin river. Many 
small streams which once entered this old river, such as 
Napa, Petaluma and San Pablo creeks, now empty direct 
into San Pablo Bay, while Alameda and Coyote creeks 
flow into the southern arm of San Francisco Bay. 



94 



The Geography of California 



Two other streams, which, from the general character 
of the relief of this region, we should judge would 
enter San Francisco Bay, turn before reaching it and 
cut directly through intervening mountain axes to the 
ocean. These are Russian river and San Benito river, 
and if you will consult the relief map you will see that 
they flow in opposite directions from the extreme ends 
of the longest valley of the Coast Ranges. This valley 
includes Russian river and Sonoma valleys, San Fran- 
cisco Bay, Santa Clara, and San Benito valleys. The 
Russian river is separated by an almost imperceptible 
divide from San Francisco Bay, but leaves this unob- 
structed course and turns at right angles and cuts a 
canon through the mountains to the ocean. The only 
explanation possible is that when the river assumed its 
present course the surface features must have been very 
different from those of the present. The course which 
now seems so anomalous was then the most natural one. 

The San Benito river also flows, throughout the most 
of its course, in the direction of San Francisco Bay, but 
for a reason probably similar to that governing the direc- 
tion of the river just described it leaves the open valley 
and, by means of a canon through a gap in the Santa 
Cruz-Gavilan Range, reaches Monterey Bay. 

There are two important drainage basins in the Coast 
Ranges. The largest of these is that of the Salinas river, 
but this fact is far from meaning that this is the largest 
river. A large part of this region has a very small rain- 
fall, so that during the summer months much of its bed 
is dry and covered with drifting sand. Water, however, 
can always be obtained by digging in the sand, while 



The Coast Ranges 9$ 

here and there it comes to the surface. Much of the 
area of the valley is treeless for lack of moisture, -so that 
during the winter storms the water runs _off rapidly, 
causing serious floods. The long bridges which span 
the drifting summer sands then come into use. 

Much of the area of the valley land is suitable for agri- 
culture and diversified farming. Irrigation is necessary 
to make this region support a large population, but as 
yet no effort has been made to conserve the winter flood 
waters. 

The second largest drainage basin is that of Eel river. 
This contrasts very markedly with the Salinas. The 
rainfall is heavy, the slopes are generally more or less 
forested, and the surface consists of a very complex 
grouping of mountain ridges and deep canons, with few 
valleys of any size. Round Valley and the extensive 
coastal plain at the mouth of the river comprise the 
largest agricultural areas. The different forks of Eel 
river drain nearly all of the northern portion of the Coast 
Ranges. 

The Santa Maria river drains the extreme southern 
end of the Coast Ranges, being in reality practically on 
the boundary of the region as we have defined it. The 
rainfall, except upon the mountains, is small, and there 
is but little running water in the summer. The Cuyama 
Valley, at the upper end of the river, has a semi-arid 
climate and is devoted to stock raising. Near the coast 
fruit and sugar beets are raised, in addition to stock. 
In the latter section the valleys widen, giving large areas 
of lowlands. 



96 The Geography of California 

The Santa Maria river, or Cuyama, as it is known in 
its upper course, heads in that exceedingly rugged com- 
plex of mountains from which streams flow into the 
Mohave Desert, the San Joaquin Valley, the Coast 
Ranges and Southern California. The region south of 
the Santa Maria river we have agreed to include in the 
Southern California province. We might, with just as 
much propriety, include nearly the whole of Santa Bar- 
bara county in the Coast Ranges, for its mountains and 
valleys are not separated by any distinguishing features 
from the region which we have been describing. 

The watershed of the Coast Ranges is comparatively 
simple, and like that of the Sierra Nevada, lies near its 
eastern edge. The only exception to this is the Clear 
Lake basin, which is drained by Cache creek, which flows 
easterly, finally to empty into the Sacramento river. 
Clear Lake once drained westerly into Russian river, but 
a landslide occurred below the beautiful blue lakes, 
which lie in its old outlet, and the waters were turned 
in the opposite direction. This is one of the most remark- 
able examples of the reversal of the drainage which we 
have in California. 

If the watershed of the Coast Ranges, was near the 
coast it would supply much more water to the Great 
Valley, but there would be little of the moist coast area 
which is so favorable to dairying, and the growing of 
beans and other crops. As the topography exists, how- 
ever, conditions favor the penetration of the cool moist 
air far inland, for many of the valleys lie in the direction 
of the prevailing winds, and open out in funnel form 
toward the ocean. 



The Coast Ranges 97 

A remarkable feature in the southeastern portion of 
the Coast Ranges is the Carisa plain, a semi-arid valley 
fifty miles long and ten miles wide. This has no outlet 
to the sea, and thus resembles the sinks of the Great 
Basin. A shallow lake once occupied this valley, but it 
is now dry and in its place is a white deposit of salt and 
alkali. At one spot the lowering of the watershed fifty 
feet would drain the valley into the Salinas river basin, 
but the rainfall is so slight that this has never been broken 
through. 

Climate of the Coastal Region. — While the average 
temperature differs but little along the coast through a dis- 
tance of 1000 miles, yet there is a remarkable difference 
in the rainfall. This is due to the fact already explained 
that the number and intensity of the storms increases 
from south to north. 

The valleys of the Coast Ranges particularly favor the 
extension of the influence of the ocean far inland, for 
they are not only wide at their mouths, but also lie in 
the direction of the prevailing winds. 

The strong summer indraft carries the cool fogs many 
miles into the interior, but only at the strait of Carquinez 
do these fogs succeed in penetrating the Great Valley, 
cooling the delta region to a temperature considerably 
lower than that of the rest of the valley. 

The strongest wind draft is found in the Salinas Val- 
ley, where the ocean winds coming in from Monterey 
Bay finally attain almost the proportions of a gale. At 
the town of Salinas the wind is not noticeably strong, 
but increases up the valley for seventy-five miles. It 
reaches the little town of Bradley in the afternoon, and 



98 The Geography of California 

blows very hard late into the night, after the wind has 
gone down near the ocean. 

Watsonville, lying partly protected by the Santa Cruz 
Mountains from the prevailing westerly winds, feels so 
little the influence of the ocean that it has become an 
important fruit growing district. Apples, in particular, 
do well here, while they are not raised successfully where 
exposed to the ocean winds. 

The low summer temperature and the foggy weather 
make the coast region an unfavorable one for the grow- 
ing of such fruits as oranges, figs, and raisin grapes. ! ] 
Under favorable conditions, where mountains shut off 
the coast winds, oranges will mature and do well as far* 
north as Santa Rosa. 

Interesting exceptions to the rule that it becomes cooler 
as one ascends a mountain will appear all along the coast 
where it is bordered by high mountains. The fog mantle 
does not usually reach above 1500 feet, and while below 
this level the air is cool and damp, above it is warm and 
pleasant. This is well illustrated on the slopes of Mt. 
Tamalpais which has an elevation of 2064 feet. It is a 
striking experience to climb one of the coast mountains 
and pass all at once from the chilly sunless atmosphere 
to the bright warm sun and see below the great ocean 
of fog encircling the mountains. 

This sea fog occurs only during the dry season, and is 
at its worst during June, July and August. Whenever, 
during this summer season, an area of high air pressure 
exists in Eastern California and Nevada the air currents 
are reversed and blow from the land toward the ocean, 
giving clear hot summer weather similar to that of the 



The Coast Ranges 99 

interior. They usually last about three days, when the 
fog comes in again. 

Sometimes, for days in succession, the temperature 
varies along the coast not more than 10 degrees in 
twenty-four hours, while in the interior there may be a 
daily range of 40 degrees. 

Taking everything into account there is no more 
attractive region in the world than the Coast Ranges. 
The ordinary extremes of temperature, both winter and 
summer, are modified by the nearness to the ocean, so 
that not only is the climate pleasant most of the year, 
but it is possible to grow a great variety of fruits. 
Besides these things the valleys have a park-like appear- 
ance on account of the oaks, and there is in most parts 
water in abundance. 

Mountain Passes: Lines of Communication. — If 
we were to pick out the pass or gateway in California 
which is of greatest economic importance we should 
have to select Carquinez Strait, which permits of water 
traffic between San Francisco Bay and the Great Central 
Valley. Streams, valleys, and railroads radiate from the 
bay region to nearly half the State. 

Unless our attention is drawn particularly to the fact, 
we do not realize how intimately the settlement and 
development of the different parts of the State have been 
affected by geographic conditions. While the Russians 
once made a settlement known as Fort Ross, on the 
coast of California, and held it for nearly a third of a 
century, they did not succeed in penetrating inland, for 
the reason that the mountains and valleys at that point 
extend parallel with the coast instead of opening out to it. 



100 



The Geography of California 



Humboldt Bay and San Diego Bay are the best two 
bays, excepting San Francisco Bay, and cities destined 
to be of great importance are growing up on each of 
these, but their progress has been delayed because of land 
barriers. Humboldt Bay and the tributary valleys are 
separated by a rugged and mountainous country from 
the rest of the State. Eureka is growing in spite of the 
fact that it has had only water communication with San 
Francisco. It is reached by stage line from the railroad 
which runs up Russian river valley. Now this railroad 
is being extended and will soon reach Humboldt Bay. 
Owing to the steep mountains and deep canons there is 
no communication with the Sacramento Valley otherwise 
than by trails, but as there are large bodies of valuable 
timber in the Klamath Mountains a railroad will 
undoubtedly be built some time across this region. 

Except at a few points where high mountains come 
directly down to the sea, there is a strip of land which 
we might call a coastal plain, varying in width from a 
fourth of a mile to several miles, along the whole coast 
of California. This coastal plain supports a considerable 
population and important industries, chief of which are 
lumbering and dairying. Nearly all points on this strip 
of land are reached by wagon roads over the mountains, 
but most of the traffic is by boat. Owing to the general 
absence of protected bays the boats are anchored at 
favorable points where deep water comes up close to the 
shore and their cargoes are taken on by a cable. 

A number of passes lead across the Mt. Diablo Ranp-e 
which, as has already been stated, forms the watershed 
of that portion of the Coast Ranges lying southeast of 



The Coast Ranges 101 

San Francisco Bay. The lowest of these leads through 
Niles Canon to Livermore Valley, and thence over the 
mountains through a low pass to the San Joaquin Valley. 
Farther south are the Pacheco, Panoche, Palonia, Palo 
Prieta, and Templor passes, none of which are much 
less than 2500 feet in elevation. Several of these will 
some time be occupied by railroads. 

Owing to the rugged character of much of the coastal 
region the early padres experienced great difficulty in 
working their way northward from San Diego. The 
route of the exploring parties finally became the main 
line of travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco, 
and is known as the Camino Real. This route led from 
Los Angeles to San Fernando, thence to San Buena- 
ventura, and up the coast to Santa Barbara. From here 
the coast was followed to Gaviota Pass, an important 
gap in the Santa Ynez Range; then it turned inland to 
Mission Santa Ynez, from which point valleys were 
followed through to San Luis Obispo. Here the Santa 
Lucia Range was crossed through Cuesta Pass to the 
beautiful Santa Margarita Valley, on the headwaters of 
the Salinas river. It was an easy matter to follow the 
Salinas Valley down past Soledad Mission, and then 
over a spur of the Gavilan Range to San Juan Mission, 
a few miles from the present city of Hollister. From 
this point on north it was a mere matter of following 
open valleys to San Francisco. 

The coast of California consists of rocky headlands 
alternating with long stretches of sandy beach. A study 
of the coast tells us many interesting things about the 
geographical history of this region. Changes in the 






102 The Geography of California 

height of the land relative to the sea seem ever to have 
been going on. It is believed that while there were 
glaciers in the high mountains the land stood so much 
higher that the present islands were a part of the main 
land. Then the coastal valleys and plains were much more 
extensive than now, as shown by the soundings, and gave 
to the coast region quite a different aspect. When the land 
sank it went down so far that there was but little land 
left in what is now Western California, the Coast Ranges 
being cut up into islands, bays and peninsulas. 

We know that the land sank to a point fully 1500 feet 
below the present because of the remnant of a boulder 
beach at that elevation near the top of the mountain 
ridge back of Fort Ross. We have evidence that after 
this the land rose again to a point several hundred feet 
above the present level, exposing the margin of the old 
coastal plain. The last sinking of the land has drowned 
a portion of this again, so that in places steep mountain 
slopes rise directly out of the sea. It is interesting to 
speculate upon the possibilities of agriculture- in the 
different stages of this development. 

An examination of the cliff cut by the waves along the 
coastal plain will show in many places remnants of the 
ancient sea beach, with boulders, pebbles and shells, 
formed when the coastal plain was a portion of the 
marginal sea floor. 

The waves are now eating their way into the land on 
all exposed shores and making a new sea floor which at 
some future time may be uplifted to form a new coastal 
plain. The old levels of the sea, or terraces as we com- 
monly call them, stand out distinctly along the coast of 



The Coast Ranges 103 

Mendocino and Sonoma counties, and south of the bay 
region in Santa Cruz and San Luis Obispo counties. 

Old Levels of the Mountains. — Our study of the 
Sierra Nevada Range has shown us that long ago the 
mountains were low and that the streams flowed at a 
gentle grade through broad valleys. The watersheds 
were so worn down that they presented a very even sky 
line, with only here and there an elevation which stood 
out distinctly. We have unraveled a similar story in 
the geographic features of the Klamath Mountains and 
Coast Ranges. Their western slopes were buried beneath 
the sea up to a level 1500 feet above the present. The 
remaining land was low, and there were none of the 
present canons, the streams flowing through broad val- 
leys. The whole region of the northern Coast Ranges 
and Klamath Mountains was so worn down that the 
surface, save scattered elevations about the heads of the 
streams, had a plain-like character. The outline of this 
old plain can now be seen from many points in this 
region. A trip through it also shows many remnants of 
the old surface in the flat-topped ridges between the 
present canons. 

The central and southern Coast Ranges present more 
of a diversified character, and have been more broken 
by subsequent movements, but here and there remnants 
of an ancient surface of low relief can be seen. This is 
notably true in the case of the even sky-line forming the 
top of the Santa Lucia Range, and in the general char- 
acter of the whole Salinas river basin, where gentle 
slopes and flat-topped ridges abound. Through these the 
present streams have cut canons and valleys, thus adapt- 






104 The Geography of California 

ing the slope of their beds to the present level of the land. 
The flat ridges are of great economic importance, par- 
ticularly upon the northern coastal region, for they are 
exposed to climatic conditions which adapt them particu- 
larly to fruit growing. 

The different stages of the uplift of the land from that 
time of depression and low relief are shown upon both 
sides of the Santa Cruz Mountains, in the form of 
benches or terraces. River terraces appear at many 
points along the Salinas, at one point six terraces, one 
above the other, can be counted in the hard rocks. The 
Arroyo Seco, rising in the Santa Lucia Range and flow- 
ing northeasterly into the Salinas, exhibits the most 
perfect terraces of any stream in the State. 

Ancient Volcanoes. — The most of the many vol- 
canoes which once existed in the Coast Ranges have been 
worn away, but there still remain many extensive bodies 
of lava, some of which are very ancient. The last vol- 
canic eruptions covered a large area of country between 
San Pablo Bay and Clear Lake, and it is on the southern 
edge of the latter body of water that volcanic mountains 
and craters still exist. Here rises Mt. Konocti, or Uncle 
Sam, as it is sometimes called, to a height of 4246 feet. 
Mt. St. Helena is another lofty peak, a few miles to the | 
south, which has an elevation of 4300 feet, and although 
formed of lava, gives no indications of ever having been 
a volcano. 

About Clear Lake are innumerable mineral springs of 
various kinds, some hot and some cold. At the eastern 
end of the lake is the noted Sulphur Bank, where sul- 
phur and cinnabar are still being deposited from hot 



The Coast Ranges 105 

springs. Borax Lake, a small body of water close under 
the northern side of Uncle Sam, occupies what is prob- 
ably an explosive crater. On account of the presence 
of mineral springs, as well as a pleasant summer climate, 
this region is much resorted to for health and pleasure. 
The mineral springs are directly related to the recent 
volcanic activity, and show that far below the surface 
this is not yet extinct. It might be instructive to remark 
here that while in many parts of the earth the earthquakes 
are due directly to volcanic action, yet in this section, as 
well as over California as a whole, the frequent earth- 
quakes are due to an entirely different cause. 

The Great Earthquake Rift. — The Great Earth- 
quake Rift, or San Andreas fault, as it is called in the 
Carnegie Report, is one of the most remarkable and 
interesting features of the Coast Ranges, if not of the 
whole world. 

The rift is a fracture in the earth's crust of unknown 
length, and along which movements have taken place 
for many thousands of years. It is due to a strain in the 
crust, similar in some ways, although upon a much 
larger scale, to other rifts which have been concerned 
in the making of the mountains of the West. 

The known length of the rift is about 700 miles, but 
neither end has yet been found. It appears first upon 
the north a little distance southeast of Eureka, in Hum- 
boldt county, and is traceable southeasterly through the 
Coast Ranges and finally into the Colorado Desert. 

Previous to the great earthquake of 1906 a part of this 
line had been recognized and studied by geographers 



106 The Geography of California 

who saw in the peculiar surface features indications of 
comparatively recent movements. 

The features by which we have come to know the rift 
are low ridges and escarpments, hollows, ponds, lakes, 
springs and meadows. The topography has been greatly 
modified along this line because of the easy erosion of 
the broken and crushed rocks. Canons, long narrow 
valleys and passes make it convenient to use the rift line 
for roads and trails, and this, together with the existence 
of springs and meadows, gives it great economic impor- 
tance. 

The part of the Great Rift appearing upon the land 
begins its main course a few miles east of Pt. Arena, 
where it comes in from the sea. It passes up the Gualala 
river canon and over a spur of the mountains and goes 
into the sea a little distance southeast of Ft. Ross. It 
is seen again on the neck of land north of Tomales Bay, 
then passing up the bay traverses a long valley to 
Bolinas Bay. The rift passes outside the Golden Gate 
and strikes the land again six miles south of the Cliff 
House. It now skirts the eastern base of the Santa Cruz 
Mountains, and crossing them passes close to the San 
Juan Mission and along the eastern side of the Gavilan 
Range. From this point we trace it to the Cholame 
Valley, and then finally into and through the whole 
length of the Carisa plain. The remaining portion 
belongs in Southern California, and will be described 
later. 

The earthquake of 1906 opened the northern half of 
the rift, making a sixteen-foot horizontal displacement 
near Pt. Arena. This decreased to a foot or less near 



The Coast Ranges 107 

San Juan in San Benito county. The southern half of 
the rift opened in the great Tejon earthquake of 1857. 

We might as well recognize the fact that earthquakes 
may happen any time along this rift, and be prepared to 
meet them. Earthquake movements similar to that of 
1906 have been the main factor in the origin of our lofty 
mountains and magnificent scenery, and I am sure that 
with this insight we should be willing to take them philo- 
sophically. 

Natural Resources. — The Coast Ranges are distin- 
guished from most of the other mountains of California 
in that they contain few deposits of the precious metals. 
Cinnabar, the ore of quicksilver, is the most important 
mineral product, unless we except petroleum. It is found 
in many places in the region southeast of Clear Lake, at 
New Almaden, near San Jose, where it was first mined 
in the State; at New Idria, in San Benito county, and 
in San Luis Obispo county. California is the one impor- 
tant quicksilver producing State in the Union. 

Small quantities of a poor variety of coal are found at 
various points, the most important being in eastern Mon- 
terey county. But little is mined at the present time. 
The enormous deposits of petroleum, suitable for fuel, 
which have recently been discovered will certainly take 
the place of coal. We should perhaps distinguish the 
different origin of these two substances. Coal is in no 
way related to petroleum, for it required swampy or 
marshy areas and a warm, moist climate favorable to the 
growth of a luxuriant vegetation. It was further neces- 
sary, after the accumulation of a great thickness of vege- 
table matter, that these areas should sink beneath the 



108 The Geography of California 

sea and became covered deeply by other rock accumula- 
tions. Petroleum, on the contrary, is formed from 
accumulated remains of countless organisms, the most of 
them microscopic, in the depths of the sea. 

The chief deposits of petroleum of the Coast Ranges 
are in the southern part, the most important field yet 
developed being the Santa Maria field in western Santa 
Barbara county. Petroleum is also found here and there 
over the region between San Francisco and Santa Maria, 
wherever exist the so-called "bituminous shales," or oil 
shales which, as we have seen, were formed long ago in 
the deep sea. Asphaltum is the term applied to an oil 
which has become solid from the evaporation of its vola- 
tile constituents, while bituminous rock is a sand impreg- 
nated with a thick tar-like oil. This is quarried and used 
extensively for paving streets. 

The distribution and importance of the forests of the 
Coast Ranges is dependent upon the amount of rainfall. 
Slope, exposure and soil also influence the growth of 
vegetation. Nearly all the valleys are dotted with oaks, 
while many of the mountain slopes, particularly toward 
the south, are covered with brush. 

The most characteristic tree is the redwood {Sequoia 
sempervirens) which occurs in groves, whose trees are 
of giant size, from the Oregon line south to Monterey 
county. These trees occur in greatest numbers in Del 
Norte, Humboldt and Mendocino counties, with some 
extensive groves in Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Marin 
counties. Its natural home appears to be the moist 
canons and lowlands near the coast wherever they are 
more or less protected from the direct ocean winds. One 



The Coast Ranges 109 

of the largest of the groves in the Santa Cruz Mountains 
is found in Big Basin, and has been reserved as a State 
park. Another grove in Redwood Canon, at the southern 
base of Tamalpais, has been preserved from destruction 
and is now known as Muir Woods. 

The redwood has a remarkable vitality, and is likely 
to survive as an important tree for the use of our descen- 
dants in spite of the efforts of many to clear the ground 
on which it grows and use it for other purposes. The 
tree sprouts from the roots and stump, and it is almost 
impossible to kill it unless the stump is burned up. Much 
of the land on which the redwood grows is more impor- 
tant for growing trees than for anything else, and people 
should be prohibited from carrying out their foolish 
efforts to kill these trees. 

Of limited importance, as a source of lumber, are the 
other trees of the Coast Ranges. There are some spruce 
and pine, and oak which is largely used for fuel, although 
much of it would be valuable for commercial purposes. 
The tan-bark oak, although a valuable hardwood tree, has 
been cut in large quantities and only the bark saved. 
Such is the criminal waste of our resources which has 
been, and is still going on in this region. Madrone and 
laurel are scattered over the more moist slopes, and the 
digger pine in the drier mountains. The oaks — both 
white oak and live oak — give a most beautiful appear- 
ance to many of the valleys of this region. 

The water power available in the Coast Ranges is small 
in comparison with that of the Sierra Nevadas, for the 
main streams flow down to the sea with a gentle grade. 
Owing to the fact that the Coast Ranges lie outside of 



110 The Geography of California 

the area of glaciation, except for one or two small areas 
we find here but few lakes, Clear Lake being the only- 
one of any size. 

The stock raising and grain industries of earlier days 
have in large part given place to fruit growing, particu- 
larly in the valleys about the San Francisco Bay region, 
where there is good transportation to market. A most 
remarkable combination of climatic conditions permits 
the growing of a great variety of fruits, such as pears, 
peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, etc. In Napa and 
Sonoma valleys large quantities of wine grapes are 
grown in addition to those for table use. In the warmer 
valleys there are fig and olive orchards, and there is 
little doubt that the lemon and orange could be success- 
fully grown. 






Southern California 111 

CHAPTER XIV. 
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 

Relief a.\d Drainage. — That part of California lying 
south of Tehachapi is a region of great diversity of surface 
and climate. Although it extends through only two and 
one-half degrees of latitude it would be diffi cult to find 
another area :: die rime size which offers a wider range 
of life conditions and so great a variety of sub-tropical 
and temperate productions. Mountains whose tops are 
white with snow through half the year look down on 
the one hand on highly cultivated valleys stretching away 
to the sea, and on the other hand over the scorching 
sands of the Mohave and Colorado deserts. 

Southern California is divided by i series of mountain 
ranges into two strongly contrasted parts. The western 
one slopes to the ocean, and until recently contained 
nearly all the population. The eastern one pos;t = :t 
external irainage, and corishtE for the most part of bar- 
ren mountains and desert valleys This nterior region 
is gee graphically a part of the Great Basin, and we shall 
take it up under the head of the latter region. 

We shall, then, include under the iehgnation Southern 
California only that portion of the State lying :n the sea- 
ward slope south of Tehachapi, :r more strictly speaking; 
south cf a line irrr. ~esterur fr:rr_ tne extreme south- 
ern end of the 5 an J : aquin Valley. 5 outhern California, 
although very complex in detail, is, as thus denned, a 
geographic unit It includes Santa Barbara, Ventura, 



112 The Geography of California 

Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and the western por- 
tions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties. 

The mountains of Southern California are so diverse 
in character, and at first sight so confusedly arranged, 
that it is not easy to reduce them to any kind of order 
for the purpose of study. We can distinguish, however, 
two main groups or systems. One forms the northern 
boundary of the province, having a general east and west 
direction. The other lies to the south, and with its spurs 
has a direction nearly north and south. As we follow it 
south into Lower California it forms what in general 
terms is called the Peninsula Range. 

The mountains occupying the northern portion of the 
Southern California province appear from the relief map 
to be really a continuation of the Coast Ranges which in 
Santa Barbara county turn more toward the east, become 
high and rugged, and exceedingly complex. Nearly the 
whole of eastern Santa Barbara county is a mass of 
mountains. The most important and distinct single 
range is the Santa Ynez, whose western end forms Point 
Conception, and whose position determined the abrupt 
change in the direction of the coast line of Santa Barbara 
county. To the north is San Rafael Range, Cuyama 
Range and the Mt. Diablo Range, all of which blend in 
an easterly direction in the San Emegdio Mountains. 
The relief map shows these mountains to be a part of the 
main northerly group which separates Southern California 
from the desert, and as we follow them easterly we pass 
successively the San Gabriel and San Bernardino ranges. 
East of the latter the chain of mountains turns again in 
a southerly direction, skirting the northern edge of the 



Southern California 113 

Colorado Desert as far as the Colorado river. The 
Santa Susana and other local ranges of Ventura county, 
the Santa Monica Range and the Verdugo Mountains 
we will group with this main axis forming the northern 
border of Southern California. 

The complex of mountains of eastern Santa Barbara 
and northern Ventura counties, which unite in the San 
Emegdio Mountains, forms one of the most sparsely set- 
tled districts of California. There is comparatively little 
land suited to farming, while the mountain slopes, either 
covered with dense brush or scattering timber, make it 
of little value as a grazing region. The mountains rise 
from 5000 to 7000 feet, culminating in Frazer Mountain, 
8026 feet in height, and Pine Mountain, 8826 feet. These 
two peaks of the San Emegdio Mountains rise from a 
plateau-like base which has an elevation of 5000 feet, 
and contains several large valleys overgrown with sage- 
brush. Pine timber covers the two peaks mentioned, as 
well as other mountains which rise above 6000 feet. 

The San Emegdio Mountains illustrate extremely well 
the almost inconceivable geographic changes which have 
taken place in this part of California in comparatively 
recent times. We learn from the topography that once 
no barriers separated the San Joaquin Valley from the 
Mohave Desert, and that the latter region sloped away 
toward the ocean, with no intervening watershed or 
mountains. 

The drainage is away from the San Emegdio Moun- 
tains in all directions. On the north San Emegdio Canon 
drains into the Great Valley. On the west is the Cuyama 
river, while on the south are the Piru and Sespe, tribu- 



114 The Geography of California 

taries of the Santa Clara river. The Santa Ynez and 
Sisquoc rivers drain west across Santa Barbara county 
from the group of mountains about which we have been 
talking. The Santa Ynez Valley, with its tributaries, 
includes the larger part of the agricultural land of the 
county aside from the strip of land lying along the sea 
at the southern base of the Santa Ynez Range. 

The most important stream of Ventura county is the 
Santa Clara river, whose direct course to the sea through 
a mountainous region shows that it occupies a line of 
folding or faulting of the earth's crust. The headwaters 
of the river extend away back into the mountains, almost 
cutting them into two parts. At one point known as 
Soledad Pass there is such a low gap between the Mohave 
Desert and this stream that the Southern Pacific Railroad 
easily crosses the watershed on the route from Bakers- 
field to Los Angeles. 

Parallel mountains border the Santa Clara river nearly 
all the way to the sea. On the south, and separating it 
from San Fernando Valley, is the Santa Susana Range, 
and on the north, lower down in its course, Sulphur 
Ridge separates the river from the Qjai, a picturesque 
and fertile valley. The mountains upon both sides of 
the river throughout the middle part of its course contain 
valuable oil deposits. 

The southern portion of Ventura county is made up 
in part of a rolling plateau dotted with oaks. South of 
this rises the Santa Monica Range which, in its east and 
west course, determines the direction of the adjoining 
coast line. These mountains rise directly from the sea 
throughout the western half of their course, and then 



Southern Calif onnia 115 

pass inland forming the northern boundary of the fertile 
plain of Los Angeles, and separating it from the San 
Fernando Valley. 

San Fernando is a large valley lying north of the Santa 
Monica Range, and is bounded on the east and north by 
the San Gabriel and Santa Susana mountains. It is 
extremely fertile and possesses a good climate. When 
supplied with sufficient water, as it is likely to be when 
the Los Angeles aqueduct is finished, the valley will 
become one of the garden spots of Southern California. 

From a study of the relief map one would judge that 
the main mountain axis of Southern California, which 
in its different parts is known as the San Emegdio, San 
Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains, is a unit as 
regards its history and development, just as is that great 
mountain block, the Sierra Nevada. Such is not the 
case, however, for the Cajon Pass marks an important 
break between the San Bernardino Mountains and the 
central and western portion of the axis. The two parts 
are of a different age and have had a very different 
history, and this, as we shall see later, has an important 
economic aspect. 

As one looks southerly across the wide expanse of the 
Mohave Desert he sees a continuous mountain wall which 
forms the northern face of the axis of which we have 
been speaking. At the western end where the Tehachapi 
Range joins this, rises the lofty rounded top of Frazier 
Mountain. Following these mountains in an easterly 
direction along the southern border of the desert, we 
find them decreasing in height, with several low passes 
leading over the watershed to the Pacific slope. Among 



116 The Geography of California 

these is Elizabeth Lake Canon, Francisquita Pass, 
through which the old Los Angeles-Bakersfield stage 
route used to go, and to the east, Soledad Pass used by 
the Southern Pacific Railroad. East of the latter pass 
the mountains begin to rise again, and from this point to 
Cajon Pass are known as the Sierra Madre or San 
Gabriel Range. The former term was given by the early 
Spaniards, meaning Mother of Mountains. This is 
peculiarly appropriate, since recent geographic investiga- 
tions have shown this range to be one of the oldest of 
the lofty mountains of Southern California. The bold 
southern front which adds so much to the scenery of 
Southern California, is an ancient fault escarpment which, 
although deeply cut by numberless canons, is remarkably 
well preserved. Its origin is the same as the bold face 
of the San Bernardino Range and the eastern wall of 
the Sierra Nevada. 

Each of the successive stages in the history of a 
mountain range has, as we have seen in the case of the 
Sierra Nevada, its own peculiar topographic features. 
The rolling uplands and plateau-like areas between the 
canons in the Sierra Nevada are remnants of an ancient 
surface which existed before the range was uplifted and 
running water had an opportunity to erode the existing 
canons. As time goes on and the work of water con- 
tinues these canons will be widened and the slopes of 
their walls reduced until no part of the old surface 
remains. The upland surface will have all gone and 
there will be left simply canons and valleys, with their 
slopes terminating in sharp divides. This is the period 
so interestingly shown in the San Gabriel Range. It is 



Southern California 117 

simply a network of steep, narrow canons and sharp 
ridges. There is scarcely 100 acres of cultivatable upland 
in the whole range. Valleys are also absent, for the 
streams are not widening their canons to any extent. 

The surface of the steep mountain slopes has been so 
injured in past years by sheep and forest fires that in many 
places where there once existed a strip of bottom land 
we now find a barren, gravelly flood plain. This is well 
shown in the East Fork of the San Gabriel river. There 
are few springs on the upper slopes, and no true meadows 
occur in any part of the range. The San Gabriel Range 
exhibits a stage of development which makes it of the 
least possible economic importance. This is far from 
saying that the range does not play an important part 
in the making of Southern California. Wherever there 
are lofty elevations in an arid or semi-arid land there we 
find the precipitation increased, and so the San Gabriel 
Range plays an important part as a source of a needed 
water supply. The higher portions of the range are tim- 
bered, but the most of this is quite inaccessible, and 
besides is needed to protect the surface and retain the 
water. 

The San Gabriel is a great block of the earth's crust 
which was once continuous with the Mohave Desert, but 
at some remote time was folded upward and broken 
along its southern face. While no level upland remains, 
yet the even sky-line of the ridges brings out the original 
character of the surface. The crest of the range has an 
average elevation of 6000 to 7000 feet, while the highest 
peak, San Antonio, or Baldy, as it is commonly called, 
reaches 10,080 feet. 



118 The Geography of California 

Big Rock creek and Little Rock creek are the main 
streams flowing into the Mohave Desert on the north. 
The Santa Clara river drains the northwestern portion, 
and the Tejunga river, source of the Los Angeles water 
supply, occupies the western slope. In no part of South- 
ern California is the damage done by forest fires more 
apparent than in the Tejunga basin. If this were refor- 
ested so that the slopes and the beds of the streams were 
protected from the direct rays of the sun there is no 
question but the water supply furnished by this stream 
system would be greatly increased. 

Little Rock creek flows easterly, while the San Gabriel, 
San Dimas, and Cucamonga are the main streams flowing 
southerly. The San Gabriel has by far the largest water 
flow, and during periods of heavy rain reaches the sea. 
Without these streams the extensive area along the base 
of the range, so well adapted to fruit growing, would 
remain a brush-covered desert. These streams are 
directly due to the presence of the lofty mountains which 
we have been describing. 

The topography of the San Bernardino Range con- 
trasts in a most remarkable manner with that of the 
San Gabriel Range. The latter is old geographically, 
while the former is comparatively young. The Great 
Rift line, which we shall describe later, lies along the 
northern base of the San Gabriel Range, crosses its 
eastern end diagonally and forms the southwestern base 
of the San Bernardino Range. The position of this 
important fault and^ earthquake line shows clearly the 
likelihood of a different age and different history for the 
two ranges. 



Southern California 119 

The San Bernardino Range exhibits rolling, flat-topped 
ridges, and broad valleys with numerous Sierra-like 
meadows. The features remind us much of portions of 
the Sierra Nevadas. In a broad way the surface of this 
range has a resemblance to the desert on the north, and 
there can be no doubt that it is an uplifted portion of 
that region. 

The San Bernardino Range includes the largest area 
of elevated land in Southern California, and supports a 
boreal flora and fauna over many square miles. About 
the upper slopes of San Gorgonio Mountain there are 
numerous cold springs and green meadows. San Gor- 
gonio, or Grayback as it is often called, is the highest 
peak of Southern California, reaching 11,485 feet. It 
lies at the eastern end of a lofty ridge, the western end 
of which is known as Mt. San Bernardino. The latter 
has an elevation of 10,630 feet, and although of no par- 
ticular importance as viewed from San Gorgonio, yet as 
seen from the San Bernardino Valley appears fully as 
prominent as the main peak. 

San Gorgonio is very interesting from the fact that 
there are clear indications of the former existence of 
several glaciers upon its northern slope. It thus marks 
one of the most southerly points of glaciation in the 
United States. 

The two largest streams heading in the San Bernardino 
Range are the Mohave river and the Santa Ana river. 
The former flows northerly into the Mohave Desert, 
carrying the largest (excepting Owens river) volume 
of any stream entering the desert. It is but little utilized, 
and in the course of fifty miles sinks in the sands. 



120 The Geography of California 

The Santa Ana is the largest and longest river of 
Southern California. The summer flow of this stream 
is unusually large, and this fact is due mainly to springs 
issuing from the extensive accumulation of glacial debris 
on the northern slope of the San Gorgonio-San Bernar- 
dino crest. These gravels hold the waters from the 
snow, which lasts nearly all summer in some of the 
protected recesses, and give it off slowly. After leaving 
the mountains the Santa Ana traverses a valley region 
of low relief, and then cuts through the northern end of 
the Santa Ana range, which lies in its path to the sea. 

The San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers, with their 
large volume of water, call forcibly to our attention the 
important part which mountains play in the development 
of Southern California. Water is so urgently needed, 
in order to increase the agricultural population of this 
section, that the greatest care and thought should be 
given to the protection of the watersheds about the heads 
of the streams. The flow from many watersheds might 
be much increased with the proper attention to the condi- 
tion of the surface. 

Two great peaks dominate this portion of California 
and stand guard over San Gorgonio Pass. One is San 
Gorgonio, and the other is San Jacinto. They belong to 
different ranges and are separated not only by the pass, 
but by the Great Rift line. San Jacinto forms the north- 
ern point of a range of the same name, and is the second 
highest peak in Southern California, having an elevation 
of 10,805 feet. 

The San Jacinto Range has the appearance of being 
very old, and of having undergone little disturbance in 



Southern California 121 

recent times. Its streams, which enter San Gorgonio 
Pass, carry little debris, and erosion upon its slopes 
appears to be slow. The very opposite appearance is 
presented by the streams entering the pass from the 
San Bernardino Range. The Great Rift which crosses 
the southern slope of the latter range appears to have 
shaken the mountains severely and badly shattered them, 
for immense quantities of debris are being borne down 
into the pass. 

The San Jacinto Mountains present a wonderfully 
rugged and precipitous escarpment as viewed from the 
Colorado Desert, near Palm Spring Station. There is no 
doubt that this originated long ago through a slipping of 
the earth's crust, but if there has been any movement in 
late times it has been one of depression, for the base of 
the range appears to be buried in the accumulations of 
the Colorado Desert. 

The western edge of the range is also marked by a 
fault line, but this is one along which very recent move- 
ments have taken place, as is shown by earthquakes. This 
latter fault line, which stands out so clearly in the moun- 
tain wall north of the town of San Jacinto, extends south- 
easterly into the Colorado Desert, and cuts off the San 
Jacinto Mountains from the rest of the Peninsula Range 
with which they are topographically continuous. The 
San Jacinto Mountains, then, extend southeasterly, finally 
terminating in a spur known as the Santa Rosa Range, 
in the heart of a barren and desolate region which forms 
a part of the Colorado Desert. 

The mountains lying south of the San Bernardino-Los 
Angeles Valley, which we have before referred to as the 



122 The Geography of California 

second most important mountain axis in Southern Cali- 
fornia, extend nearly north and south, and all seem more 
or less related to the Peninsula Range of Lower Cali- 
fornia. This range, although much lower than the Sierra 
Nevada, the highest peaks outside of San Jacinto reach- 
ing from 6000 to 7000 feet, very much resembles the 
latter in its general structure. There is the long western 
slope of San Diego county and the abrupt eastern slope 
toward the desert. The latter slope is marked by fault 
lines, so that the range is a great tilted block which has 
not been elevated as much as the Sierra Nevada. Plateau- 
like remnants of an old surface are very numerous upon 
the summit and western slope of the range. The Cahuilla 
Indian Reservation, a few miles south of the town of San 
Jacinto, is located upon a remarkable plateau having an 
elevation of 4000 feet. About the region of the mining 
town of Julian and the Cuyamaca Mountain, as well as 
on the summit of the Laguna Mountains and the Campo 
region near the Mexican line, are extensive plateau-like 
areas which formed part of an old surface before the 
recent moderate elevation of the Peninsula Range. 

The westward sloping ridges of these mountains form 
a remarkably even sky-line when seen in profile, and back 
of the city of San Diego is a remnant of an ancient aurif- 
erous gravel channel. This old channel bears the same 
relation to the present canon of the San Diego river as 
the old channels in Northern California do to the Ameri- 
can and Feather rivers. 

The slope from the plateau occupied by the Cahuilla 
Indian Reservation was once continuous westward to the 
ocean. The whole region had a low relief, for there were 



Southern California 123 

no canons, and only gently rolling granite hills broke the 
surface. 

Then there came a time of slipping of the earth's 
crust along a line of fracture, and the Santa Ana Moun- 
tain block began to appear. A sharp escarpment formed 
along the eastern face of this block, and in the depression 
at its base we have the Temecula-Elsinore Valley of the 
present day. The growth of the mountain block was 
slow, so that Temecula creek maintained its course, and 
now flows from the broad valley of the same name by 
means of a canon which it has cut through the moun- 
tains, to the sea. The road from Temecula to Fallbrook 
passes across the southern end of this uplifted block 
through a little valley which has been beheaded. 

At Lake Elsinore the displacement was greater still, 
and the San Jacinto river, which at one time must have 
flowed westerly to the sea, formed a lake under the 
escarpment and was then deflected northerly, finally to 
empty its waters into the Santa Ana river. The climate 
is so dry now that rarely is there any overflow from 
the lake down the old course of the river. 

This mountain wall, shutting in the Temecula-Elsinore 
Valley on the west, is one of the most striking features 
which we have illustrating the formation of mountains 
through slipping of the earth's crust. Climbing this wall 
from Temecula we come out upon a rolling plateau with 
broad valleys and low granite knobs, covered in places 
by the remnants of an ancient lava flow. The region is 
known as the Santa Rosa plateau, and one of the most 
symmetrical lava remnants, forming a flat-topped hill, 
goes by the name of Mesa Redonda. 



124 The Geography of California 

As we follow the Santa Ana Mountains northward we 
find that beyond the point where the Santa Ana river 
crosses it the fault disappears and a fold of the earth 
giving rise to the Puente Hills takes its place. To the 
southeast we trace the fault, or slip, as we may call it, 
along the base of Palomar, or Smiths Mountain, border- 
ing the valley of the upper San Luis Rey river. Smiths 
Mountain, then, has been raised to its present height 
by movements along this rift, only here the uplift was 
on the opposite side of the break, for the bold front of 
the mountain faces westerly, while farther north the 
escarpment faces east. 

Numerous streams, the largest of which are the San 
Diego and San Luis Rey rivers, flow westerly to the sea 
across San Diego county. Their courses for the most 
part lie in valleys, although here and there narrowed by 
resistant rocks. Since their channels were first eroded 
the land has sunken several hundred feet, and now their 
lower courses are over silted-up channels. In the sum- 
mer they are nearly dry, but after ordinary winter rains 
carry a considerable volume of water. 

The Verdugo Mountains, forming a long narrow, but 
precipitous range, lie between the San Fernando Valley 
upon the southwest and a valley known as La Canada, 
which separates them from the San Gabriel Range on the 
northeast. Most peculiar and interesting drainage fea- 
tures are exhibited by the streams which come down to 
La Canada from the San Gabriel Mountains, for instead 
of going around the Verdugo Mountains, as the topog- 
raphy would lead one to expect, they flow directly across 
it. This seems to indicate that either the Verdugo Moun- 



Southern California 125 

tains have been raised across the courses of pre-existing 
streams without displacing them, or that the San Gabriel 
Range has sunken. There is clearly a line of fracture and 
displacement running through the Canada Valley between 
the two ranges. 

Lakes. — Southern California, as we might suppose, 
has few natural lakes. Elsinore is the largest, and 
belongs to a type of lake frequently occurring at the foot 
of fault escarpment throughout the mountains of the 
West. At present it rarely overflows its basin, and is 
quite alkaline. 

Lake Elizabeth, lying on the southern edge of Antelope 
Valley, in the Mohave Desert, is due to the blocking of 
a small stream which is crossed by the Great Rift. In 
the San Bernardino Mountains are several small lakes 
occupying basins which have been uplifted from the level 
of the Mohave Desert and have not yet been drained. 
On San Gorgonio are two small glacial lakes. In the 
head of the middle fork of the San Gabriel river is a 
small lake lying behind a great ridge of rock which has 
slid from the crest of the range as the result of some 
earthquake disturbance. At the mouths of some of the 
streams, and separated from the ocean by barrier beaches, 
are lagoons. These have been formed as a result of the 
last submergence of the coast drowning the adjacent low- 
lands. 

One of the most interesting of the shore features found 
along the whole coast of California is the Mesa of San 
Diego county. In its main features it represents an 
ancient sea floor formed along the base of the mountains 
when the land stood lower than at present. The mesa 



126 The Geography of California 

lies between the mountains and the sea, and terminates 
at the latter in cliffs. South of Oceanside lines of ancient 
dunes mark its surface. During a period of elevation 
the streams cut steep-walled valleys or canons across it. 
With the last sinking of the land the sea flooded the 
lower portion of these valleys. Then the waves threw 
up barrier beaches, transforming the bays into lagoons, 
and since then they have been largely silted up by flood 
waters. 

Coast and Islands. — The character and direction of 
the shore line at any given point is dependent upon the 
nature of the land lying back of it. Where mountains 
approach the shore the coast is rocky, and bold, and 
headlands extend out into the sea. This is illustrated at 
Pt. Arguello and Pt. Fermin. Where there are lowlands 
lying back there are long, gently incurving sandy beaches, 
as are shown south of Santa Monica, for many miles both 
northwest and southeast of Long Beach, and at Cor- 
onado. 

The present shore is a mere accident, so to speak. It 
is not permanent, but has moved back and forth with 
the rising and sinking of the land. Just how great these 
movements have been we do not know, but their vertical 
range is probably 3000 feet. 

All the lowland region of Southern California was at 
one time the floor of the sea, and at another time the 
land reached far to the westward of the present boundary, 
including the Santa Barbara and probably other islands. 
We have come upon the scene while the land stands half 
way between these extremes, so that the surface is divided 
between mountains and broad lowland valleys. The fer- 



Southern California 127 

tile plain upon which Santa Barbara stands is part of a 
much greater plain stretching away under the sea to the 
islands. The plain of Los Angeles is only a part of a 
much larger one, the remainder of which is submerged. 

Between Santa Barbara and Ventura the mountains 
which form the great barrier between Central and South- 
ern California come directly down to the shore, leaving 
room for a road only at low tide. The coast has recently 
risen three-fourths feet south of Los Angeles. This has 
given opportunity for the Santa Fe Railroad to build a 
number of miles of track on the sand which has accumu- 
lated at the base of the old sea cliffs south of San Juan 
Capistrano. San Diego is thus more easily "reached than 
it otherwise would be. The condition of the shore is then 
an important economic factor in communication between 
different regions. 

The relative position of the mountains and the charac- 
ter of the valleys taken in connection with the present 
level of the land, have given us a fairly even coast line 
with few good harbors. Santa Barbara roadstead is 
protected largely by the Channel Islands. San Pedro, 
originally a small shallow harbor, is being adapted to the 
use of large vessels by the building of a costly Govern- 
ment breakwater. 

San Diego possesses, next to San Francisco, the best 
natural harbor on the coast of California. It is due to the 
same cause as the others, that is, the recent sinking of 
the land several hundred feet. San Diego Bay is pro- 
tected both by Pt. Loma, a long, rocky headland, and a 
long barrier beach connecting with islands behind the 
headland. 



128 The Geography of California 

The ocean is at most times so quiet that at* many points, 
such as Ventura, Santa Monica, Long Beach and Ocean- 
side, long piers have been built for the transfer of freight 
and passengers. 

The Islands. — All the islands except the Farallones 
lie off the coast of Southern California. They are tops 
of mountains which rise from a sunken portion of the 
continent to which reference has already been made. 
This submerged plateau widens and sinks as we follow 
it southward past the Santa Barbara Islands until off 
San Diego soundings show that its margin is fully 150 
miles out beyond the present shore. In addition to the 
mountains on this plateau which rise above the water 
there are several "banks" marking the places of those 
which are completely submerged. 

Much, and probably all, of this plateau has at some 
time been dry land. It is definitely known that the land 
has stood at least 1000 to 1500 feet above the present 
level, for the Santa Barbara Islands were a part of the 
mainland in quite recent times. On Santa Rosa Island 
there are bones of the mastodon, extinct horse, and other 
mammals. These must have reached that point by means 
of some land connection. There are other evidences of 
submergence in the shape of canon-like depressions which 
extend from the land down onto or across the submerged 
plateau. In several instances these reach the deep sea 
at a depth of 2000 to 3000 feet, and are believed to have 
been made by running water. 

That the coast of Southern California has been sub- 
merged at least 1400 feet below the present level is shown 
by the wave-cut terraces and ancient sea cliffs extending 



Southern California 129 

up to that height upon San Clemente Island, and also 
upon the seaward face of San Pedro Hill. The last 
movement of any consequence, except the slight upward 
one referred to, was a sinking of perhaps 300 feet, and 
it is this which has given us our present harbors. 

The downward movement drowned the mouths of the 
streams and formed bays at their mouths. The larger 
streams, carrying much silt, have filled these up. Many 
small ones still exist, in the form of lagoons, as is par- 
ticularly well shown along the coast of San Diego county. 

The island of Santa Catalina is important as a summer 
resort, Avalon being situated upon a bay formed by the 
last sinking of the land. The other islands are chiefly 
used as stock ranges. The islands, if we can judge from 
San Nicholas, once supported a large Indian population. 
The latter is now utterly barren, and is being covered 
with drifting sand owing to overstocking with sheep. 
Outside of the channel islands there is a most remarkable 
submerged escarpment shown by soundings. The slope 
is very precipitous to the depths of the Pacific, and prob- 
ably represents a great fault or earthquake slip. 

Earthquake Lines. — The earthquake rift of the 
Coast Ranges, or San Andreas fault, as it has been 
termed by the Earthquake Commission, which opened so 
disastrously in 1906, has a much greater length than was 
at that time supposed. It extends through the whole 
length of the Coast Ranges, across Southern California 
and into the Colorado Desert. 

We have already followed it through the Coast Ranges 
to the Carisa Plain. From there it continues on south- 
easterly through the San Emegdio Mountains, the name 



130 The Geography of California 

meaning patron saint of earthquakes, across Tejon Pass 
and the southern slope of Antelope Valley. Movements 
have occurred along this line for so long a time that 
valleys and canons have had time to develop. The crush- 
ing of the rocks near the fracture line has made erosion 
more rapid, and hence the marked effect which it has 
produced upon the topography. The slipping of the 
walls have also resulted in important escarpments. 

West of the San Emegdio Mountains San Juan Canon 
has been eroded 2000 feet deep on the line of the rift. 
San Emegdio creek rises in an important longitudinal 
upland valley eroded through the heart of the San Emeg- 
dio Mountains, and this is also due to movements of the 
rift. Along the northern side of Cuddy Valley there is 
an escarpment 50 to 200 feet high which forms a straight 
line for some miles. The sunken side of the valley is 
marked by meadows. 

Crossing the Tejon Pass the rift continues in an almost 
perfectly straight line along the southern side of Ante- 
lope Valley and the Mohave Desert. The old stage road 
from Bakersfield to Los Angeles follows it for some miles 
east of Tejon Pass. The earthquake of 1857, known as 
the Tejon earthquake, shook this road all to pieces, and 
the effects are still plainly visible. 

Long narrow valleys mark the rift for many miles. It 
has not only affected greatly the topography of the coun- 
try, but it has habitable valleys with springs in an other- 
wise very dry region, and has determined the position of 
trails and roads which follow it almost continuously. 

The rift follows a straight course along the mountain 
slopes bounding the Mohave Desert on the south for fully 



Southern California 131 

100 miles. Then, climbing the northern spurs of the 
San Gabriel Range, it continues over a divide 7000 feet 
high and descends toward the lower end of Cajon Pass. 
Sink holes, escarpments, springs and cienegas enable us 
to trace it easily almost the whole distance. 

The rift traverses the mesa which lies between the base 
of the San Bernardino Range and the valley, and breaks 
it into two parts, showing in places long bluffs and ridges 
forty to fifty feet high. Above the rift there is an 
abundance of water at shallow depths ; below it can 
scarcely be found. This is because of the impervious 
layer of clay in the fissure which forces toward the sur- 
face the underground waters seeping from the mountains. 

Passing up Potato Canon to the east of Riverside the 
rift passes over a spur of the range and then down 
toward the San Gorgonio Pass. It then turns more east- 
erly along the base of the range, and after crossing the 
Whitewater River disappears in the sands of the Coa- 
chella Desert. The whole of that portion of the rift 
traversing Southern California opened in the Tejon 
earthquake of 1857. 

Another earthquake line of importance has already 
been mentioned. This has produced the steep mountain 
wall lying north of the town of San Jacinto. This line 
of displacement can be traced southeasterly along the 
southern slope of the San Jacinto Mountains and into 
the Borego Desert, where it forms a wonderfully regular 
escarpment. A severe disturbance along this fissure in 
1897 severely damaged the town of San Jacinto and 
killed several Indians. 



132 The Geography of California 

The Temecula-Elsinore earthquake line appears to have 
ceased making any disturbance, for there are no indica- 
tions of recent movements. The eastern slope of the 
Peninsula Range shows in many places the effects of 
great displacement. For hundreds of miles, extending 
far into Lower California, there is an abrupt wall very 
similar to that of the Sierra Nevada. The frequent 
earthquakes, hot springs and mud volcanoes of the Colo- 
rado Desert indicate that movements of the sunken desert 
block are still taking place. 

Geographic History. — Something of the wonderfully 
checkered shore-line history of California has already 
been given. Fully as remarkable events have taken place 
in the history of the land, as we learn from a study of the 
existing geographic features. 

The climate and geography have both been changing 
throughout the long periods of the past. Disturbances 
in the earth's crust would slowly give rise to mountains. 
The forces of decay, together with the rains and running 
streams, would attack these mountains and in the course of 
time wear them entirely away. Mountain-making forces do 
not act with the same energy in all places and at all times, 
while in some places the mountains wore away more 
rapidly than in others. It thus came about that in dif- 
ferent regions we find mountains exhibiting different 
stages of development. In the Mohave Desert and about 
Perris, Riverside county, there are mountains almost 
worn down, while the San Gabriel and San Bernardino 
exhibit steep, rugged slopes of newer mountains. As 
a result of the changing land we have an ever-changing 
climate, fauna and flora. 



Southern California 133 

A careful study of the features of Southern California 
leads us to believe that at one time there were no lofty 
barrier mountains between the Mohave and Colorado 
deserts and the sea. The drainage from these districts 
reached the sea over a surface of low relief. The San 
Gabriel, San Bernardino and Peninsula ranges had not 
been born. The summits of the sharp ridges of the 
San Gabriel Range, which form so even a sky line, 
appear to arch upward gently from the Mohave Desert 
with its almost worn-down mountains. The San Ber- 
nardino Range is without question an uplifted region 
which at one time was topographically a part of the 
present desert. The Peninsula Range was once much 
lower and exhibited no eastern escarpment, and the 
ancient uplifted river bed, with its gold deposits, proba- 
bly had its head far to the east of the present crest and 
over the sunken Colorado Basin. 

The geographic features of these ancient times of 
which we have spoken were perhaps first modified in 
the appearance of the San Gabriel Mountain block. A 
fault or slipping of the earth along its southern side 
began to raise an escarpment which as it grew more 
lofty was more and more attacked by the forces of decay 
and erosion until the present deep canons came into 
existence, and the old upland was reduced to sharp- 
edged ridges. Such is the story of the still precipitous 
front of the San Gabriel Range, which adds so much to 
the scenic features of this region. 

At a much later period movements along the Great 
Rift, of which we have spoken, began to uplift the San 
Bernardino Mountain block, but the ancient surface of 



134 The Geography of California 

this area has not yet been greatly modified, although 
canons have been eroded about its margins, and these 
will in time reduce it to the same condition as the San 
Gabriel. Both ranges will, at some time in the distant 
future, if other movements do not interfere, take on 
much of the appearance of the rolling, hilly country 
about Riverside and Perris. 

The old features of the last-mentioned district are 
relics of the most ancient geography which we can dis- 
tinguish in California. The time required for lofty 
mountains to be worn down to a surface almost plain- 
like in character, such as that southwest of Perris, is 
greater than we can conceive of. It is this contrast 
between very ancient and comparatively new geographic 
forms which we find so well shown in the area which we 
have been discussing that makes its study so interesting. 
Here we also see in remarkable distinctness the dependence 
of the climate and productions, as well as man's indus- 
tries, upon the physical features of the earth. 

Geographic Barriers. — With all the modern conven- 
iences for travel we are apt to forget the difficulties 
which the early explorers encountered in trying to get 
into California. One expedition ascended the Colorado 
river, but did not get far away from it because of the 
inhospitable character of the country. A long and weary 
route led overland from the Missions of Lower California 
to San Diego, and the sea with all of its head winds 
offered the only other means of access. 

Except for the one route up the coast, where the 
mountains crowd the road to the edge of the sea, moun- 
tain ranges and deserts completely shut off Southern 



Southern California 135 

from Central and Northern California. When the inte- 
rior became better known another route by Elizabeth 
Lake, Tejon Pass and canon came into use, but much 
of the way was desert, and there were three mountain 
passes to cross, namely, San Fernando, Francisquita, 
and Tejon. The main route, however, continued to be 
that along the coast known as the Camino Real. The 
latter lay mostly through well-watered valleys, and with 
only two passes of any consequence, Gaviota across the 
western end of the Santa Ynez Range, and Cuesta Pass 
leading from San Luis Obispo across the Santa Lucia 
Range. 

The deserts offered more effective barriers to the early 
emigrants from the East than did the mountains. It 
was practically impossible to cross the Colorado and 
Mohave deserts in the heat of summer, but there were 
several passes leading through the mountains into South- 
ern California which could be used at all seasons. 

Mountain passes have had an important influence upon 
the development of Southern California. This fact is 
illustrated in the relatively rapid growth of Los Angeles 
as compared with San Diego. The former is situated 
directly at the meeting point of valleys which lead to 
mountain passes opening east and north, while San Diego, 
having the great advantage of being located upon the 
second best harbor upon the coast of California, is never- 
theless, so hemmed in by mountains that it has been 
difficult for railroads to reach it. Even the route along 
the coast, occupied by the Santa Fe, was not an easy one 
to follow. The Peninsula Range offers no low passes, 



136 The Geography of California 

but it is now proposed to build a railroad across it, and 
thus go direct from San Diego to Yuma. 

San Gorgonio is the easiest and lowest pass leading into 
Southern California. It has an elevation of only 2600 
feet, and is really a broad valley connecting San Bernar- 
dino Valley with the Colorado Desert, which has been 
arched upward in the middle during mountain-making 
movements. It is used by the Southern Pacific Railroad. 

Cajon Pass is higher and steeper than San Gorgonio 
Pass. It lies in the break between the San Bernardino 
Range and the San Gabriel, and opens out on the north 
into the Mohave Desert. The pass is used by both the 
Santa Fe and Salt Lake railroads. In early days it was 
made use of by the Mormon trail, which led from Utah 
across Southern Nevada to the San Bernardino Valley, 
where these people had made a settlement. 

The Southern Pacific Railroad in going from the San 
Joaquin Valley to Southern California crosses three 
mountain passes, namely, Tehachapi, leading to the 
Mohave Desert ; Soledad, between the desert and the head 
of the Santa Clara River, and San Fernando, between the 
latter basin and the San Fernando Valley. 

The emigration into California by the southern routes 
was comparatively small in the early days. This was 
partly because the deserts of the Southwest were more 
dangerous to cross, and partly because the mines were 
reached more directly by the northern route. Two trails 
were used to reach Southern California, one across New 
Mexico and Arizona, entering California at Yuma. The 
other, known as the Old Mormon trail, has already been 
mentioned. From Yuma one route led tn San Diego, 



Southern California 137 

the other to Los Angeles. Winter parties sometimes 
made use of these routes, and it was in the effort to find 
a new cut-off to the north of the Mormon trail that the 
Death Valley party had its terrible experience. 

Climate. — The climate of Southern California has 
already been discussed in a general way. Although lying 
in the belt of prevailing westerly winds, fewer storms 
reach this southern coast, and the climate is drier than 
farther north. The precipitation varies greatly in differ- 
ent parts. It averages 10 inches at San Diego. At Los 
Angeles it is about 15, while upon the mountains it is 
from 40 to 50 inches. We would ordinarily expect the 
greatest rainfall to occur along the coast, but owing to 
the cooler air of the mountains, and the disturbance which 
they create in the atmospheric currents the precipitation 
upon their slopes is very much greater. The influence 
of the mountains is, then, a very beneficent one, for if it 
were not for them the rainfall would be so small that 
there would be no streams of any consequence, there 
would be no snow and no summer supply for irrigation. 

The lack of rainfall irom storms accompanying the 
easterly moving air currents is partly compensated for 
by the existence of a summer storm area over the Gulf 
of Lower California. Storms from this center sometimes 
reach into Southern and Eastern California, producing 
thunderstorms and cloudbursts in the late spring and 
summer which may be very severe. In the summer of 
1909 as much rain fell in a single storm in the Colorado 
Desert as ordinarily fell in a whole year. 

While the summer fogs are much colder and more 
dense along the coast, yet owing to the fact that there 



138 The Geography of California 

are no intervening mountain ranges their influence is 
felt far inland. "High fog" occurs very frequently in 
the mornings in summer, even in the San Bernardino 
Valley. Thus it happens that many fruits, including 
oranges, ripen later in Southern California than in the 
Great Valley, hundreds of miles farther north. 

A disagreeable wind from the north occurs in the 
spring and fall, and often does considerable damage. 
This is known as the Santa Ana, and while it lasts the 
sky is obscured by clouds of dust. It is a high-pressure 
or anti-cyclone wind due to the existence of such an area 
over Southern Nevada. Its warm dry character is not 
wholly due to its passage over the deserts, as is commonly 
supposed, but more to the fact that it is a descending air 
current, and such currents are drier and often warmer 
than other winds. 

Natural Resources. — California is made up of so 
many and diverse parts that we can describe its resources 
most intelligibly by taking each part by itself. Southern 
California is noted particularly for its oranges, and 
undoubtedly the growing of citrus fruits will always be 
the leading occupation. The dividing up of the land into 
small tracts, each of which is cultivated with care, will 
keep the larger part of the population in the country and 
small towns, and lead to the best type of our modern 
civilization. 

Owing to the fact that the area that is sufficiently high 
to receive heavy rains is comparatively limited, the timber 
resources of Southern California are not extensive. 
Important lumbering operations have been carried on in 
the San Bernardino Range for some years, but careful 



Southern California 139 

measurements of the streams which flow from the defor- 
ested areas indicate clearly that the effect upon the sum- 
mer supply will be disastrous if this work is not soon 
stopped. It is far more important that Southern Cali- 
fornia be not stripped of her forest cover, and thus crip- 
ple the water supply which goes to support thousands of 
people, than that a few lumber companies should grow 
rich. 

The coniferous forest is practically confined to the 
mountain slopes above 5000 feet, although there is one 
species, the big-coned spruce, which can thrive upon 
drier slopes, and grows much lower. Below the conifer- 
ous forests, particularly where the slopes are steep, the 
surface is covered with a dense growth of chaparral, 
consisting of scrub oak, California lilac, chamisal, man- 
zanita, etc. The more moist valleys are dotted with oaks, 
as are the valleys of the Coast Ranges. Many of the 
more arid valleys and slopes support a growth of sage- 
brush and other semi-arid shrubs. 

If we except petroleum, .the mineral resources of South- 
ern California are comparatively limited. Gold occurs 
from the San Emegdio Mountains southward in those 
parts of the mountains made up of the ancient crystalline 
rocks. Antimony was formerly mined in the San Emeg- 
dio Mountains, and a tin mine was at one time in opera- 
tion in the mountains east of South Riverside. At Colton 
there are important marble deposits used in making lime. 
In San Diego and Riverside counties occur valuable 
deposits of tourmaline, beryl and kunzite, which are next 
to diamonds, perhaps the most valuable of gems. 



140 



The Geography of California 



It is interesting to note, in connection with a descrip- 
tion of the minerals of Southern California, that here 
was made the first discovery of gold. In San Francis- 
quita Canon, fifty miles northwest of Los Angeles, gold 
was discovered in placers in the year 1838, and these were 
worked with profit for some years. The priests, however, 
discouraged mining by the Indians, fearing it would take 
them from the missions. In 1843 a Mexican officer 
attempted to arouse his government to the possible impor- 
tance of gold in California. 

Deposits of petroleum occur over a wide area in Santa 
Barbara, Ventura, and Los Angeles counties. The oil is 
usually obtained by drilling, but in portions of the Ven- 
tura field it is obtained from tunnels run into the sides of 
a mountain. In the field southwest of Los Angeles is the 
deepest well ever drilled. It extends more than a mile 
down into the earth. 

A most interesting and remarkable collection of fossils 
has been obtained from the La Brea tar springs, a few 
miles southwest of Los Angeles. Here is an almost com- 
plete representation of the animals which inhabited this 
region during the last few thousand years. Some came 
to drink the water and fell into the tar ; others, such as the 
carniverous animals, got in while attempting to feed upon 
other animals which had been caught. Nearly all the 
animals and birds whose skeletons have been found are 
now extinct. 

Water Supply. — In no other part of California is the 
question of an adequate water supply so important as in 
the region which we are discussing. Here are many 
hundreds of thousands of acres of land suited to the 



Southern California 141 

growth of a great variety of sub-tropical fruits, but 
without water for irrigation little of this great region 
could support more than a sparse population. 

We have already seen that it is due to the presence of 
lofty mountains lying back of the lowlands that there is 
any water for irrigation. The water now used is obtained 
partly from the gravels along the base of the mountains, 
by means of wells and pumping plants, partly from the 
natural flow of the streams, and partly from artificial 
reservoirs constructed in the mountains. Bear Valley 
reservoir, in the San Bernardino Range, is the most 
important of the latter sources. 

The limit of the agricultural possibilities of Southern 
California with the water now at hand has nearly been 
reached. There are various ways by which the supply can 
be enlarged. Los Angeles and the region about will soon 
have a greatly augmented water supply in the great 
Owens river canal. Large quantities of water run away 
to the sea during the winter floods, and this should all 
be conserved for summer use through the construction 
of reservoirs. 

Another factor which will affect the water supply, but 
which has not yet attracted the attention which it should, 
is an increase in the forest area. Incalculable damage has 
been done the slopes about the headwaters of many of 
the streams by forest fires. In the basin of the upper 
Tejunga river, from which Los Angeles gets its present 
water supply, there are many square miles of country 
once forested which are now almost bare. The stream 
bed is open to the hot sun, and a large part of the water 
which would otherwise reach the valley is now evapor- 



142 The Geography of California 

ated. The indiscriminate cutting of the lumber of the 
mountain slopes of Southern California must be stopped, 
for every acre cut over lessens the supply by a certain 
amount. 

Value of Different Slopes. — We can, from an eco- 
nomic standpoint, distinguish three different types of 
surface and soil in Southern California. First, there is 
the mountain upland with slopes of varying steepness 
where the bedrock is undergoing disintegration and run- 
ning water is removing the loosened rock particles with 
greater or less rapidity. Where the accumulation of rock 
particles is faster than the removal we find a layer of 
soil of slowly increasing thickness. Where erosion is 
more rapid we have crags and steep rocky slopes. 

The waste rock material, including fragments of all 
sizes from sand and clay up to those several feet in 
diameter, are swept into and down the deep narrow 
canons by the rains which are frequently torrential in 
character. At the mouths of the canons, the water no 
longer confined, spreads out and loses its transporting 
power in a large degree. The coarser material is 
dropped, and only the finer is borne on to the lowlands 
and finally to the sea. Gravel slopes at the bases of 
the mountains characterize the whole of the Southern 
California region. They are formed of the coalesced 
debris fans and are most strikingly shown along the 
southern base of the San Gabriel Range. They con- ■ 
tain vast stores of water, and have generally a rich soil. 
The good drainage, and climatic conditions particularly, 
adapt them to the growing of oranges. 



Southern California 143 

The gravel slopes along the base of the San Bernardino 
Range are considerably eroded by the present streams, 
owing probably to a recent uplift of these mountains. 
The dissected and truncated remnant is known as the 
"Mesa." This forms the very best orange land, and is 
more nearly free from frost. 

Below the slopes which we have been describing are 
the bottom lands and flood plains of the streams. These 
are particularly adapted to the growing of vegetables, 
alfalfa, walnuts, sugar beets, etc. In addition to the 
types of land described there are considerable areas of 
gently rolling lands whose materials accumulated beneath 
the sea when the country stood lower than now. These 
soils are always fine and rich. Near the sea there are 
damp marshy areas of similar origin, rich in peaty 
organic matter, and are particularly adapted to the grow- 
ing of celery. 

Industrial Development. — The industrial develop- 
ment of Southern California can be divided into three 
somewhat overlapping stages, namely, pastoral or graz- 
ing, general agriculture and grain raising and horticul- 
ture; or fruit growing. The first belongs characteristic- 
ally to the old California days when life was taken easily 
and only work enough done to make a living. Hides 
and tallow were the only products for which there was 
much of a market. They were taken by the American 
trading vessels which frequented the coast during the 
earlier half of the last century. 

From the very first settlement of the State irrigation 
was considered necessary for the successful growing of 
garden products and orchards, but only sufficient was 



144 The Geography of California 

raised to satisfy the needs of the various small communi- 
ties. The grassy hills and brush-covered valleys were 
considered valuable only for the grazing of horses, cattle 
and sheep. With the increase of the population it was 
discovered that large areas of what was supposed to be 
almost worthless lands would produce good crops of 
wheat and barley in years of average rainfall. California 
came to be known as a great grain State, and shipment 
was made by boats to all parts of the world. 

Orange trees were introduced into California by the 
Mission fathers, and small orchards were maintained at 
the various settlements, but with the secularization of the 
Missions these were generally neglected. It was not 
until the coming or the railroads into Southern California 
that the growing of fruit was undertaken on a large 
scale, for previous to this event there was no way of 
shipping it outside the State. Beginning about the time 
of 1870 there has been a continual growth of the fruit 
industry, along with the continually increased shipping 
facilities and a more extensive application of irrigation. 
Perishable fruits and vegetables can now be distributed 
all over the United States and portions of adjoining coun- 
tries. We see, then, that water for irrigation and a 
means of getting the products to market were the two 
geographic factors, in addition to a favorable climate 
and miles upon miles of fertile soil, which were needed 
in order to turn brush-covered wastes into smiling gar- 
dens which would support a great and prosperous agri- 
cultural community. The development of a larger sum- 
mer water supply is the one thing needed now more than 



Southern California 145 

all else that the thousands of acres of still unoccupied 
land may be made to produce. 

The climate and generally picturesque surroundings of 
the valleys of Southern California will always make it 
an attractive region. Los Angeles has become almost as 
large as San Francisco, and in addition to being a tourist 
center, is assuming importance in commercial and manu- 
facturing lines. The annexation of San Pedro gives Los 
Angeles a seaport which will be of great importance when 
the harbor improvements are completed. It is probable, 
however, that Los Angeles will continue to be noted 
chiefly for those things with which nature has endowed 
it, namely, an agreeable climate and far-reaching fertile 
valleys backed by rugged mountains. 

San Diego is the second city in size in Southern Cali- 
fornia, and because of its magnificent harbor, will become 
of great commercial importance. It is also noted as a 
summer and winter resort, for it has a remarkably equa- 
ble climate. In the valleys lying back from the coast 
oranges, lemons, and grapes are grown, while higher in 
the mountains there is an important apple region. 

Santa Barbara is noted as a resort, as well as for its 
groves of olives and walnuts. The town is situated on a 
fertile plain at the base of the Santa Ynez Range. With 
these mountains on the north and the Channel Islands 
lying out at sea, the region is well protected from harsh 
winds. 

Pasadena, having an elevation of nearly 1000 feet on 
the gently sloping plain at the foot of the rugged San 
Gabriel Range, has an ideal location for climate and 
beauty, and has become far-renowned as a winter resort. 



146 The Geography of California 

San Bernardino, Redlands, and Riverside are equally 
noted for their pleasant winter climate, and are sur- 
rounded by orange orchards. 

Long Beach, Santa Monica, and Redondo have become 
important places, chiefly because of their attractive 
beaches. Avalon is the most widely known of the island 
resorts. 



Klamath Mountain Region 147 

CHAPTER XV. 
KLAMATH MOUNTAIN REGION. 

Location and Boundaries. — The term Klamath 
Mountains is applied to a lofty, mountainous area in the 
northwestern part of the State. Although on geographic 
grounds this region is not easily separated from the 
Coast Ranges and Cascades, yet, when we come to study 
the rocks and the history of the region we see that the 
distinction is a good one. The Klamath Mountains 
resemble the Sierra Nevadas in their surface features, in 
their ancient rocks and in their mineral deposits. 

The older text-books state that the Coast Ranges, 
Sierra Nevadas, and Cascade Range meet in Mt. Shasta, 
but this classification is no longer accepted. The Sierra 
Nevadas really terminate in Plumas county, and the 
mountains which continue on toward Shasta are a part of 
the Cascade Range. Throughout Oregon the Cascade 
Range is formed entirely of volcanic materials, and these 
extend south past Shasta and Lassen to the ancient rocks 
of the Sierra Nevadas, which disappear in northern Plu- 
mas county. These volcanic mountains and plateaus of 
Northeastern California fill what was once a great depres- 
sion extending northeasterly from the upper Sacramento 
Valley. This depression separated the Sierra region 
from the Klamath Mountains, and reached into Southern 
and Eastern Oregon. According to this distinction, Mt. 
Shasta is one of the great peaks of the Cascade Range, 
and is separated from the Klamath Mountains by Shasta 
and Strawberry valleys. 



148 The Geography of California 

North of Redding the Klamath Mountains send a long 
spur eastward, and include most of the rough mountain- 
ous district between the upper McCloud and the lower 
Pitt river. This spur is surrounded on three sides by the 
lavas of the Cascade Range. 

Physical Features. — The Klamath Mountains, like 
the Sierra Nevadas, San Gabriel and San Bernardino 
ranges, were once much lower than they are now, and 
their surface features were quite tame and uninteresting. 
The rivers of that time flowed through broad valleys, 
portions of which still remain as plateau-like shoulders 
overlooking the deep canons of the present day. 

There came a time when the region began to rise, and 
with the increase of slope the streams began to deepen 
their channels. As one looks at a relief map he is puz- 
zled to understand why the Klamath river leaves the 
broad Shasta Valley and flows through the mountains 
in a deep canon direct to the sea. If we should fill up 
the canon the Klamath river would first form a lake in 
Shasta Valley and then break through the lowest point 
in the rim which leads in a southerly direction past Mt. 
Shasta to the Sacramento river. 

The only way in which we can explain the peculiar 
features mentioned is by the supposition that long ago, 
before the mountains had been elevated to their present 
height, the lowest outlet to the sea lay directly across the 
mountains where the river flows now, and that as they 
rose the movement was so slow that the river was able 
to cut its channel down, and so maintain its position, 
until the canons became 2000 to 3000 feet deep. 



Klamath Mountain Region 149 

Only three valleys of any size are found within the 
whole Klamath Mountain region. The most important 
one is Scotts Valley, then comes Hay Fork Valley and, 
last, Trinity Valley. In addition, the canons widen here 
and there sufficiently to give room for a little bottom 
land, and if the soil has not been washed away in 
hydraulic mining, we are likely to find little ranches. The 
rest of the surface is mostly made up of steep and rugged 
mountain slopes terminating in deep canons. 

The Klamath Mountain group includes a number of 
distinct mountain ranges which form the watersheds of 
the different river basins. The highest and most pictur- 
esque of these is the Salmon Mountains, which consti- 
tute the divide between the Salmon and Trinity rivers. 
Several peaks have an elevation of over 9000 feet. This 
region, in common with the other higher mountain 
ridges of the Klamath Mountains, was once glaciated. 
There are, in consequence, numerous little alpine lakes 
very similar to those in the Sierra Nevadas. The snow- 
fall is heavy, and on the north slope of Thompsons Peak, 
which rises 9345 feet, there is a small glacier. 

Scotts Mountains lies between the head of the North 
Fork of Trinity river and the upper Sacramento. They 
include Castle Crags, widely known for their striking 
scenic features. 

The Siskiyou Mountains lie north of the Klamath 
river and partly in Oregon. They include several peaks 
about 9000 feet in height. The Trinity Mountains form 
a high, sharp divide between the Trinity river and the 
Sacramento river. They pass southward into the Yallo 



150 The Geography of California 

Bally Mountains, which lie at the extreme southern end 
of what we are calling the Klamath Mountains. 

The Trinity is the largest stream which lies wholly 
within the Klamath Mountain region. Its various 
branches drain the southern portion, and its waters finally 
reach the Klamath river. 

The Klamath is the largest river of Northern Califor- 
nia. It rises in the lake region of Southern Oregon, and 
flows a little south of west across a depression in the 
Cascade Range, or rather volcanic plateau, as we shall 
call this part of it in the following pages, and directly 
into and through the Klamath Mountains, as we have 
already seen. 

The Sacramento river also cuts across the Klamath 
Mountain region. Its main source is in large springs 
near the southwest base of Shasta, and flows southerly 
through a picturesque canon. Long ago a lava stream 
swept fifty miles down this canon, burying the old river 
bed. The present stream has cut down, through the lava 
and exposed in some places the gravels of its former 
channel. 

The McCloud river lies east of the Sacramento, and 
flows nearly parallel with it. Its waters issue in great 
springs from the side of the canon, and give a constant 
flow of pure cold water throughout the year. These 
springs, like other large springs in Northeastern Cali- 
fornia, are due to the fact that the surface waters sink 
down through the lava and collect in underground 
streams. The lower McCloud river is bordered by pic- 
turesque limestone mountains, in the caverns of which 
extinct animal remains have been discovered. 



Klamath Mountain Region 151 

One of the most interesting mountain trails in Califor- 
nia is that which leads from Scotts Valley westerly along 
the divide between the Klamath and Salmon rivers. The 
scenery is attractive, and in addition we can see from 
many points the even sky-line ridges of the ancient Klam- 
ath country which existed here before the present moun- 
tains and canons. For many miles these even-topped 
ridges approach 6000 feet in elevation, while at their 
upper limits rise the peaks which long ago were compara- 
tively insignificant in height, but which now reach 8000 
to 9000 feet. 

The mountains were lifted to their present position by 
stages, and at each period of rest the streams, after 
having established a new grade and ceased to cut down, 
began to meander on their flood plains and widen their 
channels from canons to valleys. Then, when the uplift 
was renewed they began to cut down again. In this 
way were formed the river terraces, some of which are 
covered with gravel and are rich in gold. 

Climatic Features. — The climate of the Klamath 
Mountain region varies greatly in different parts. Upon 
the coast it is extremely wet, and the temperature is mild, 
but as we go inland the precipitation becomes less, the 
summers warmer and the winters colder. On the higher 
mountains semi-arctic conditions prevail. Upon the 
eastern edge of the district the rainfall is comparatively 
light. 

Here, as in many other parts of the State, there is a 
remarkable vertical range exhibited by many plants and 
trees. The madrone ranges through 3000 feet, under the 
right conditions of slope exposure. On the dry, sunny 



152 The Geography of California 

slopes of some of the canons occur such plants as the 
Spanish bayonet, which normally belong in the semi-arid 
portions of the State. 

Resources. — The Klamath Mountains early became 
known as a mining region, chiefly on account of the 
placers, which proved to be very rich. Gold was found 
both in the gravels of the present streams and in the ter- 
race remains of the older streams. The gravels were 
often so deep that they could not be worked by ordinary 
placer methods, and so recourse was had to hydraulic 
operations. The "bars," as they are often called, are 
now largely worked out, but at one time hundreds of 
"giants" were hurling streams of water with terrific force 
at the gravel banks and washing their materials into long 
sluices where was placed quicksilver to catch the gold 
as it was swept along. 

West and northwest of Redding are many old mining 
camps, some of which are thriving today on quartz min- 
ing, while all through the Klamath Mountains are veins 
bearing gold and copper. 

The agricultural population of the Klamath Mountain 
district is mostly confined to the three large valleys 
which have been mentioned, and to valleys about the 
borders. In Scotts Valley dairying and cattle raising 
are important industries, while fruits of the temperate 
latitudes do well in all the valleys. 

Forests are among the most important resources of the 
Klamath region. Owing to the inaccessibility of the 
greater part of these forests lumbering has been mostly 
confined to the coastal region and to the district about 
the head of the Sacramento river. The redwood tree 



Klamath Mountain Region 153 

Teaches its northern limit in Del Norte county. The 
other important lumber trees are the yellow pine, sugar 
pine, spruce and fir. 

The effects of careless lumbering are seen in the devas- 
tated region about Sissons and in the McCloud River 
Valley. Here is a beautiful and attractive region lying 
at the base of that scenic wonder of California, Mt. 
Shasta, which has been practically ruined in having its 
forests stripped off. There is no more attractive summer 
outing region in the State, and the main body of the 
forests should have been left. Many valuable mineral 
springs are scattered along the upper Sacramento river 
canon, and large numbers of people resort to them. 



154 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER XVI. 
THE VOLCANIC PLATEAU REGION. 

While there have been volcanoes and lava flows in 
nearly all parts of California at various times in its 
geographic history, yet it is in the northeastern portion 
that we find them most extensive. One of the greatest 
lava floods of the earth's surface covers Eastern Oregon, 
Eastern Washington, Southern Idaho, Northern Nevada 
and Northeastern California. Throughout a long period 
of time this region has been subject to the outpouring of 
molten material from within the earth. This was partly 
in the form of lava streams which spread in thin sheets 
over the country, and partly solid or semi-solid material 
which was blown out of the craters of innumerable vol- 
canoes and cinder cones. The then existing geographic 
features were buried by the lava, sometimes to a depth 
of 2000 to 3000 feet. Here and there islands of the 
older surface rose above the flood, while about the bor- 
ders its relation to this old surface was that of the sea 
to the land, with bays of lava instead of water. In this 
manner was built up what we call the Columbia Plateau, 
which is today one of the most prominent topographic 
features of the Northwest. 

Folding and slipping of the earth's crust along lines of 
fracture followed the building of the plateau, so that now 
it appears broken up by many mountain ranges. The 
most important of such ranges in California is the War- 
ner Range in the extreme northeastern corner. This 
both creates a water supply for the fertile Surprise Val- 



The Volcanic Plateau Region 155 

ley, and cuts it off from the coast drainage and throws 
it into the Great Basin. 

An examination of the relief map shows Northeastern 
California to be a plateau elevated 3000 to 5000 feet, with 
many broad, plain-like valleys and low mountain ridges. 
Here are lava flows, some very ancient, and others so 
recent that soil has not yet accumulated on their surfaces. 
Here are also innumerable cinder cones, and one line of 
lofty volcanoes beginning with Lassen Peak on the south 
and reaching north past Mt. Shasta. This line of peaks, 
with the high land from which they rise, is known as 
the Lassen Peak Volcanic Ridge and, as already 
explained, belongs in the Cascade Range. 

The lava streams frequently interrupted the drainage 
upon the volcanic plateau, giving rise to lakes. At the 
present time most of the lakes have been drained by the 
streams cutting down their channels at the outlets. 
Large lakes once existed in Fall River and Big valleys. 

The main stream draining the plateau region is Pitt 
river. It had its source in former times in Goose Lake, 
a large body of water ' upon the California-Oregon 
boundary, but with the small rainfall of the present time 
the lake does not overflow. 

Tule Lake is another large body of water upon the 
northern boundary of the State. Long ago it emptied 
into the Klamath river, but now the evaporation is equal 
to the inflow, and the water has become quite alkaline. 
The Klamath reclamation project will partly drain this 
lake. 

Large areas of country have no surface drainage, 
owing to the porous character of the underlying lava. 



156 The Geography of California 

The water seeps downward until it encounters a layer 
of gravel between two lava flows, where it continues in 
the form of underground streams. Reaching the edge 
of the overlying flow or the side of a canon, it comes 
out as large cold springs. Such springs are common 
along the base of the Cascade Range, both in Oregon 
and California. They are often so large that they form 
full-fledged rivers. Fall river, a clear, cold stream in 
eastern Shasta county, is formed entirely of such springs. 
One of these, alone, has been used to run a sawmill. 
Another group of similar springs give rise to Hat creek, 
a tributary of Pill river. 

Eagle Lake lies near the southeastern border of the 
Plateau region, and from the fact that it has no outlet, 
might be considered as lying in the Great Basin. It is, 
however, surrounded by a volcanic country. 

Volcanoes and Recent Eruptions. — With the 
exception of a small area near Mono Lake there is no 
other part of California presenting such interesting 
volcanic phenomena. At Cinder Cone, a few miles north- 
east of Lassen Peak, occurred what was probably the 
last eruption in the United States. The stubs of some 
of the trees killed by the ashes thrown out of Cinder 
Cone are still standing. Later even than the cinder erup- 
tion which built this cone there was a flow of black 
basalt which spread over about ten square miles of coun- 
try. The lava was viscous and cooled with a very rough '< 
surface and very precipitous margins, sometimes fully 
seventy-five feet high. The lava formed a dam across 
a valley and gave rise to Snag Lake. The eruption prob- 
ably occurred less than one hundred years ago. The 



The Volcanic Plateau Region 157 

recent date of the eruptions at Cinder Cone brings 
forcibly before us the possibility of such events in the 
future. 

West of Tule Lake are the Modoc Lava Beds, which 
are interesting from the fact that the lava is full of cav- 
erns which were occupied by the Indians during the 
Modoc war, the last outbreak in the State. 

Hot and boiling springs are found in the neighborhood 
of Hot Spring Valley, a few miles southeast of Lassen 
Peak. There is one group of boiling mud springs known 
as the Devil's Kitchen. A body of water, underlaid by 
boiling springs, is called Lake Tartarus. 

Lassen Peak has an elevation of 10,437 feet, and has 
been greatly eroded by stream and glacial action. Mt. 
Shasta, rising 14,380 feet, is the most striking mountain 
in California. This is due to the fact that it rises from 
a base which is comparatively low, about 4000 feet. The 
fringe of forest on the lower slopes and the snow-covered 
top standing all alone, offers a grand and majestic spec- 
tacle. Erosion is rapid in the soft fragrriental materials 
of which it is largely composed, and in time will reduce 
it to comparative insignificance. Many older and almost 
worn down volcanoes are scattered along the crest of the 
Cascade Range. A number of glaciers of considerable 
extent are found upon the northerly slopes, and are doing 
their share in tearing down the mountain. 

We must bear in mind, in studying the geographic 
features of volcanic regions, that lava flows generally 
produce gentle slopes and spread over the surface in 
thin sheets, while the cinder cones and lofty peaks, such 
as Shasta and Lassen, with their steep slopes, are formed 



158 The Geography of California 

in large part of the solid or semi-solid fragments of 
lava hurled from the craters during the periods of violent 
eruption. These fall down about the orifice and thus 
gradually build up the rim of the crater. Lava flows 
may burst from the crater, but they are more likely to 
break out part way down the outer slope, or near the 
base. 

Climate. — Owing to its elevation the winter climate 
is colder than that of most of the other settled portions 
of California. The precipitation decreases as we go 
from the main Lassen Peak volcanic ridge easterly, so 
that fully half of the region has a semi-arid climate. 
There is generally sufficient rain to produce grain, but 
gardens must be irrigated. 

Resources. — There is but little mining in the plateau 
region, for the older rocks which in other parts of the 
Stale carry minerals are here buried by the lava. The 
important industries are lumbering, agriculture, and 
stock raising. The population is scattered, and there are 
no towns of any size in the district. 

The western part of the plateau region lies within the 
great forest belt of the Sierra Nevada-Cascade Range. 
As we go eastward toward Nevada the lessened rainfall 
is shown in the fact that the forests become confined to 
the mountain ridges, while the valleys are covered with 
sagebrush. 

Much of the region about Mt. Shasta has been lum- 
bered over, and owing to careless and destructive meth- 
ods will be non-productive for a long time. In other 
parts the forests are now being cut, but it is to be hoped 



The Volcanic Plateau Region 159 

that before the country is entirely stripped that enlight- 
ened methods will be introduced. 

The large valleys of the central portion of the region 
are given over to a variety of farm products, but the 
region is so isolated that few of these can be shipped to 
market. Grain and hay are produced for stock, and as 
the latter can be driven out they form the most important 
product. 

Fruit, particularly apples, are now grown in many of 
the valleys, and with the entrance of railroads into the 
region will prove profitable crops. 

The plateau province embraces Lassen, Modoc and the 
eastern part of Shasta and Siskiyou counties. 



160 The Geography of California 

CHAPTER XVII. 
THE GREAT BASIN PROVINCE. 

Extent and General Character. — Fremont was the 
first to explore and describe that vast interior portion of 
the continent lying between the Rocky Mountains and 
the Sierra Nevadas. He found it to be a succession of 
sandy deserts and barren mountain ranges with no 
external drainage. Here and there were alkaline or 
saline lakes, often disappearing completely during the 
heat of summer and leaving a white crust over the sur- 
face. There. were almost no streams, save torrential ones, 
which existed for a short time after exceptionally heavy 
storms, and springs were few and hidden away in the 
mountain recesses. The larger part of the torrential 
waters were either evaporated or absorbed in the sands, 
so that the different basins, of which there were hundreds 
and perhaps thousands, never overflowed, and no drain- 
age system was set up. Fremont pictures this vast desert 
region, or Great Basin, as he called it, as dreary and 
desolate, and what little life it contained as dwarfed and 
peculiar in character. For us, who can now enter this 
region under more favorable circumstances, it has most 
wonderful attractions. The desert, at certain seasons of 
the year when the air is cool and the sky clear, is one of 
the most inspiring regions of the continent. 

We must not conceive of the Great Basin as a simple 
region with a rim of inclosing mountains, but rather 
as made up of an almost innumerable number of smaller 
basins. The bottoms of some of the basins or valleys 



The Great Basin Province 161 

have an elevation of 6000 feet, while others are below 
the level of the sea. The Great Basin includes the west- 
ern part of Utah, nearly the whole of Nevada, and the 
eastern one-third of California. 

In spite of the geographical importance of the Great 
Basin, it is hardly more than mentioned in our geogra- 
phies, and most school children know nothing about it. 
The region forms one of the most important barriers 
separating California from the East, contains valuable 
deposits of the precious minerals, and owing to its unique 
climatic conditions, contains some of the most important 
beds of salt, soda and borax known in the world. 

The northern and southern boundaries of the Great 
Basin are determined by the drainage systems of the 
Columbia and Colorado rivers, respectively. Its western 
boundary, beginning in Northeastern California and 
going south, is first; the Warner Range, followed by the 
Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, San Emegdio, Francisquito, 
San Gabriel, San Bernardino, San Jacinto and Peninsula 
ranges. The watershed separating the Pacific drainage 
from the Great Basin forms the meeting point of two 
sharply contrasted climatic provinces. In the desert one, 
which we are discussing, are many strange plant and 
animal forms. At first sight these seem few in number 
and to have a hard struggle for existence, but in reality 
they are very numerous and have become so adapted to 
their conditions that life for them is as easy as it is for 
organisms in other regions. 

Surface Features. — That part of the Great Basin 
lying in California is far from having a uniform charac- 
ter. For convenience we might distinguish three parts, 



162 The Geography of California 

namely : ( 1 ) The narrow strip lying east of the Warner 
Range and Sierra Nevadas; (2) the Mohave Desert, 
occupying a large area in the central southern part, and 
(3) the Salton Sink, otherwise known as the Colorado 
Desert or Imperial Valley. 

In the extreme northeastern corner of the State the 
lofty Warner Range, with its eastern fault escarpment, 
supplies water for the fertile Surprise Valley. This is 
perhaps the best cultivated portion of the Great Basin in 
California. In the center of the valley is a sink contain- 
ing three alkali lakes which nearly dry up in the middle 
of summer. 

Farther south we come to Honey Lake and valley of 
the same name. This valley lies close under the fault 
escarpment of the Sierra Nevadas which, although not as 
high as farther south, is yet quite precipitous. The part 
of the valley lying along the base of the mountains is 
dotted with many ranches, water for irrigation being 
supplied by streams from the Sierras. Susanville is the 
leading town of this region. The next important feature 
to the south is the Lake Tahoe basin. This lake, although 
lying high up in the Sierras, in a region of .heavy precipi- 
tation, drains through the Truckee river into the Great 
Basin. This is the largest stream of the whole desert 
region. Much of the water is now diverted to irrigate 
thousands of acres of sagebrush desert in Nevada, and 
what is left finally reaches Pyramid Lake, in the north- 
western part of the State. 

The next important basin to the south is that occupied 
by Mono Lake. This body of water and the surrounding 
volcanic region offers one of the most interesting places 



The Great Basin Province 163 

for study in the whole of California. The lake itself 
lies in the lowest portion of a sunken fault block, back of 
which rises the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada. 
This region is still sinking, as is evidenced by the fact of 
an escarpment at the point where Mill creek issues from 
the mountains, which shows a recent displacement of 
forty feet. 

Mono Lake has about the same elevation as Lake 
Tahoe, but instead of being pure fresh water, is so 
intensely alkaline and saline that the only form of life 
which it contains is a brine shrimp. The islands in the 
lake are formed largely of lava, and one contains a 
volcanic cone. The fissured and broken rocks tell the 
story of violent earthquakes following the cessation of 
the volcanic activities. 

South of the lake is a group of mountains known as 
the Mono Craters, which are extremely interesting. At 
one spot is a flow of black lava which looks as if it had 
cooled but yesterday. At other points are deep craters 
formed by explosive forces, while fine pumice or "vol- 
canic ashes," is spread all over the surrounding country. 
In one crater is an eruption of obsidian lava or volcanic 
glass, as it is often called. Here the Indians used to 
come for the material for their arrow and spear points, 
and this, through exchange, was taken to distant parts of 
the State. 

Continuing south along the eastern base of the Sierras 
over a volcanic country which in places has the appear- 
ance of a table land, we reach Owens Valley. This is 
the largest, with the exception of Imperial, of the valleys 
of the Great Basin which lie in California, and supports 



164 The Geography of California 

a considerable population. The valley occupies what we 
might call a deep trough, although it has an elevation of 
4000 to 5000 feet, between the rugged Sierras on the 
one hand and the Inyo- White Mountain Range on the 
other. The highest peak of the White Mountains has an 
elevation of over 14,000 feet, while on the opposite side 
of the trough rises the lofty escarpment of the Sierras, 
with peaks culminating in Mt. Whitney, 14,501 feet. 
The length of Owens Valley is about seventy miles, and 
average width ten miles. It is due to the dropping of 
the earth between the two mountain ranges, and is in 
reality formed of two main blocks, the eastern one of 
which is occupied by the lowlands along Owens river, 
while the western one is higher, and is best exemplified 
in the Alabama Hills, near the town of Lone Pine. The 
great Owens Valley earthquake of 1872 was the result 
of movement between these two earth blocks. 

East of the Inyo-White Mountain Range we find a 
succession of desert valleys and north and south moun- 
tain ranges taking us into Nevada. Saline Valley, at 
the eastern base of the Inyo Range, is of great interest. 
The block of the earth's crust which forms the valley has 
been dropped in times so recent that the mountain wall, 
which rises above it fully 8000 feet, is still extremely 
precipitous. 

Owens Lake is a large shallow body of water, and very 
alkaline. Although it receives the drainage of the eastern 
slope of the highest parts of the Sierras, yet it is steadily 
decreasing in size, and will eventually disappear. This 
event will be hastened through the construction of the 
Los Angeles aqueduct, which will take away a large por- 



The Great Basin Province 165 

tion of the water of Owens river. Mono Lake, on the 
contrary, is rising slowly. Its waters can never be 
diverted, owing to the nature of the country, although 
some of the supplying streams can be used for irrigation. 

Owens Lake overflowed its basin during the glacial 
period and sent a mighty stream southward between the 
Coso Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. The gap is 
known as Little Lake, from a body of water occupying a 
portion of the ancient channel. The stream spread over 
a part of the Salt Wells Desert, and finally reached the 
basin known as Searles Borax Marsh. The shore lines 
of the ancient lake are still clearly marked along the sides 
of the inclosing mountains. 

The Argus Range, the Panamint Range and the 
Funeral Mountains lie east of the Sierras and north of 
the Mohave Desert. They have a north and south direc- 
tion, and are noted landmarks. Panamint Valley is but 
a little more than 1000 feet above sea level, and was once 
occupied by a lake. On the opposite side of the Panamint 
Range are the desolate reaches of Death Valley which at 
Bennetts Wells is 276 feet below the level of the sea. 
In spite of the fact that this region is extremely arid 
there is plenty of water in Death Valley if one only 
knows where to look for it. The vast stretch of salt and 
alkali marsh through the center of the valley is its most 
dangerous feature. Extensive lakes once occupied the 
most of the valleys of this desert region. 

All the mountains in the region east of the Sierra 
Nevadas have a north and south direction, and have been 
uplifted in times as recent as the uplift of the lofty Sierra, 
if we can judge from their steep escarpments. When we 



166 The Geography of California 

get as far south as the Mohave Desert, however, we 
encounter a country possessing a radically different char- 
acter. Here are very ancient mountains. There have 
been no important disturbances of the earth's crust, and 
these old mountains have been almost worn away. The 
features suggest old age and decay. 

For long ages the mountains of the Mohave Desert 
have been wasting away under the influence of rock 
disintegration and erosion. Before the uplift of the 
Sierra Nevadas and the San Gabriel Range disturbed 
the drainage lines of these ancient times and made the 
Great Basin the streams undoubtedly flowed away to the 
sea. They then carried with them the debris of these old 
mountains, but for a long time past there has been no 
outlet, and the waste has gone on accumulating in the 
valleys until in some of them it is probably several thou- 
sand feet deep. Where the desert is crossed by the 
Southern Pacific Railroad we have the best view of these 
almost vanished mountains. The once young and pre- 
cipitous mountains have become old, and the processes 
of decay and erosion have almost ceased. They are 
probably the oldest topographic features to be found in 
California, excepting only the region of low relief about 
Riverside and Perris, in Southern California. 

As one goes easterly across the Mohave Desert, on 
the Santa Fe Railroad, the same old mountains, although 
not quite so nearly worn down, appear all the way to 
the Needles. At only two places are there new features, 
and these consist of small craters and flows of black lava 
which contrast strongly with the desert sands. 



The Great Basin Province 167 

The Mohave river is the only stream of any conse- 
quence which enters this vast desert region. It flows 
northerly from the San Bernardino Mountains and in the 
direction of Death Valley, but sinks in the sand long 
before reaching it. 

Next to the mountains, the most interesting feature 
of the desert is the broad, gently sloping plains of rock 
waste which surround the scattered mountains on all 
sides and dip away to the sinks. These plains are miles 
in extent and are made up of gravel or sand which the 
occasional torrential streams have brought down from 
the mountains and spread out in sheets. When it does 
rain here the waters gather quickly on the barren rocky 
slopes of the mountains, roar through the canons and 
then, with their load of rock debris, spread out over miles 
of country. In such a dry land, where streams are many 
miles apart, it is strange that the effects of water should 
be so prominent, but it is nevertheless true. There are 
places where the railroads have to build many miles of 
ditches to keep the tracks from being washed out. Occa- 
sionally lakes are formed, and in 1909 traffic on the Santa 
Fe was stopped by such a body of water. 

Low, barren mountains, the southeastward prolonga- 
tion of the San Bernardino Range, separate the Mohave 
from the Colorado Desert. Reaching the latter we find 
a very different country from that just described. It is 
equally barren and destitute of water, at least before the 
formation of the Salton Sea, but its surface was built up 
in a very different manner. The Gulf of California once 
extended as far north as the town of Indio, while the 



168 The Geography of California 

mouth of the Colorado river was a short distance below 
Yuma. 

The changes in the earth's surface which great rivers 
effect in the course of long ages, is well illustrated in 
the work of the Colorado river. The waters of this 
stream are so loaded with silt during periods of flood 
that they look like so much seething mud. An estimate 
of the amount of silt brought down by the Colorado in 
the year 1890 gave 61,000,000 tons. This is enough to 
make fifty-three square miles of dry alluvial soil one foot 
deep, or the same area more than three feet deep with 
recently settled mud. 

Bearing the above facts in mind it is easy to under- 
stand how the river in the course of unnumbered thou- 
sands of years built its delta across the Gulf of California 
forming the inclosed area now known as the Salton 
Basin. The tides of the gulf bore much of the silt far- 
ther to the south, so that the total amount of material 
finally deposited is much greater than that which appears 
as dry land. 

Salton Basin was at first a salt lagoon, being filled with 
sea water which had been cut off from the gulf by the 
delta. As the river channels moved here and there over 
the delta much of the water was at times diverted into 
the basin, and the lagoon became a fresh water lake. 
Such was its condition at the time of the last maximum 
expansion recorded in the ancient beaches and. wave-cut 
cliffs which can be traced all around the borders of the 
Colorado Desert, for the fresh-water clam shells strew 
the beaches in countless numbers. 



The Great Basin Province 169 

As the river swung back and forth on the delta there 
were times when no water of any consequence reached 
the lake, and its bed finally became dry save for the salt 
marsh in the lowest place. This salt may have been 
partly derived from deposits left in the ancient salt 
lagoon, and partly from the accumulation of this material 
in solution in the river water. 

The recent overflow of the river, and the formation of 
Salton Sea, was due directly to the presence of a canal 
which at time of high water allowed the river to break 
through into the basin, but indirectly to the fact that it 
had been flowing to the south for many years, and that 
part of its delta had become so lessened in slope that 
very likely it would have broken into Salton Basin in the 
course of a few years, even if man had not come in as a 
disturbing factor. 

Climate. — The climate of the Great Basin is one of 
its most interesting and peculiar features. Every phys- 
ical condition tends to make a desert of this region. In 
the first place it lies in the interior of the continent, and 
is shut off from the sea by mountains. In the second 
place the mountain ranges extend north and south, and 
as the storms move easterly with the prevailing westerly 
air currents of the temperate zone, they abstract a large 
part of the moisture of the air before it reaches this 
interior basin. In addition to being very dry the summer 
temperature of the lower and southern portions of the 
Great Basin is intense. There is an extraordinary range 
of temperature between night and day, owing to the clear 
air and the radiation from the barren surface. The 



170 The Geography of California 

temperature is further affected by the presence of lofty- 
mountains cutting off the cool sea winds which so greatly 
temper the summers along the coast. 

We have already learned that the storms which pass 
inland from the Pacific are more numerous in the north- 
ern United States, and as these deserts extend pretty well 
to the south and almost out of the course of these storms, 
we have an added reason for their dryness. The barrier 
mountains of the Mt. Whitney region are also more lofty 
than farther north. It is in the deserts back of these 
mountains, so to speak, that we have the greatest heat 
and greatest aridity. 

Most remarkable contrasts in climate are found in the 
Great Basin where lofty mountains break the surface. 
The tops of those mountains which reach up to 8000 to 
10,000 feet have a cool climate with moderate precipita- 
tion, while the desert sands at their bases seldom receive 
rain, and are subject to such high temperature that it 
would appear as if no living thing could exist. 

The climate has given rise to much that is unusual in 
the topography. The lack of water to form streams has 
left innumerable basins instead of a series of valleys with 
a connected drainage system. In some of the basins are 
lakes strongly impregnated with salts of various kinds. 
In a normally moist climate there would be found here 
neither lakes nor salts unless the displacements of the 
land and the mountain-making movements were so rapid 
that continuous drainage lines could not be maintained. 

The peculiarities of the living things which have 
adapted themselves to the lack of moisture show how, in 



The Great Basin Province 171 

the course of time, climate aids in the development of 
new species. Among plants, the size of the leaf has 
decreased in order that there may be less evaporation, 
and frequently the surface of leaf and stem is covered 
with a sticky or resinous substance which still further 
aids in retaining the moisture. Some plants, such as the 
cactuses, have developed a fleshy body which in certain 
species holds large quantities of water. Thorns also 
appear evidently as a means of protection. Among the 
animals there are also strange adaptations. The most 
remarkable is the desert tortoise, which has two water 
pockets, enabling it to exist for a long time without a 
new supply. 

The air conditions are such, particularly in the sum- 
mer, that when it does rain the precipitation is sudden 
and heavy, and we call the storm a "cloudburst." Owing 
to the lack of a protecting cover of vegetation, the water 
runs off the mountain slopes with great rapidity, spread- 
ing out in thin sheets over miles of the desert sands. 
Some years the rains come at the right time in the spring 
and the desert soon becomes a veritable flower garden, 
with many varieties of plants and a wealth of color. The 
seeds mature, the plants dry up, and in a few short weeks 
the desert is again a mass of barren gravel and drifting 
sand. The seeds lie buried, perhaps for years, until 
another favorable season occurs, when the process is 
repeated. 

In the eastern parts of the Mohave and Colorado 
deserts the rainfall is rarely in excess of two or three 
inches, and sometimes two years pass with scarcely any 



172 The Geography of California 

rain. There is no portion of the desert, however, which 
does not contain more or less vegetation except the sinks, 
where, owing to the presence of such quantities of salts 
of various kinds are apparently absolutely barren. 

Natural Resources. — The vegetation of the desert 
varies with the soil, elevation and rainfall. Over the vast 
reaches of the Mohave Desert the most widely distrib- 
uted plant is the Mexican creosote bush. Along the dry 
water courses are many mesquite trees, and in portions 
of the Colorado Desert these form thorny and almost 
impenetrable groves. In the moister portions of the 
desert, particularly toward the north, the sagebrush 
abounds, and under favorable conditions grows to a 
height of twelve feet. 

In the Mohave Desert there are extensive groves of 
a tree-like yucca, which sometimes covers miles of the 
long, gentle gravel slopes. The cactus is more or less 
generally distributed, but in the western portion of the 
Colorado Desert it grows in the greatest variety and pro- 
fusion. The native California palm, so widely grown for 
ornamental purposes, is found in many of the mountain 
canons tributary to the Colorado Desert. 

A zonal distribution of plants on the mountain slopes 
is well illustrated in many places. In the eastern part of 
the Mohave Desert, for example, we pass from the zone 
of the Yuccas to that of the desert juniper. Higher still, 
with more rain and a lower temperature, we reach the 
pihon pine, and if the mountains be high enough we may 
reach the yellow pine. As one travels through the desert 
he can make a rough estimate of the elevation by the kind 
of vegetation which he encounters. 



The Great Basin Province 173 

The fiber of the tree-yucca has qualities which will 
some day make it useful. Desert plants have large roots 
in many cases, and these are dug out and used as fuel. 

Springs are so rare in portions of the desert that it is 
unsafe to travel there without a guide. It is interesting 
to observe upon a map of the desert how the courses of 
all trails and roads are determined more by the watering 
places than by any other factors. The difficulty of obtain- 
ing water often makes it impossible to work certain 
mineral deposits which would otherwise be valuable. 

It is mainly the presence of minerals in the desert 
mountains that has called a considerable population into 
this region. Gold, silver and copper are the most impor- 
tant of the metals obtained. Among the most valuable 
of the minerals of the Great Basin are salt, soda and 
borax. Deposits of borax have long been worked in 
Death Valley and Searles Borax marsh. It also occurs 
in Saline Valley, east of the Inyo Range. Salt is found 
in a number of places, both in the form of rock salt and 
as a loose surface deposit. Salt of the latter kind was 
obtained from the Salton Sink before it was flooded by 
the inflow of the Colorado river. The Danby salt marsh, 
in the eastern Mohave Desert, contains an inexhaustible 
supply of rock salt. It was quarried at one time and 
hauled to the railroad by a traction engine. An interest- 
ing cabin made of blocks of salt still stands here, for 
there is not rain enough to dissolve it. 

The most noted mining town east of the Sierra Neva- 
das is Bodie, in Mono county. It has many large mines 
which have produced a great deal of gold. Inyo county 



174 The Geography of California 

is also noted for its gold mines, and in past years for the 
production of silver and lead. 

Agriculture in the Great Basin is restricted to those 
areas where water can be obtained for irrigation. The 
Truckee, Carson -and Walker rivers supply large valleys 
in the northern portion of the district which we have 
been describing. Owens Valley is well watered, and sup- 
ports a considerable population. The chief exports are 
cattle and horses. Apples and many other temperate 
fruits do well here. 

The delta of the Colorado river is composed of a deep 
and inexhaustible soil, and can for the most part be 
reached by irrigation ditches. The population of this 
region, now known as Imperial Valley, is rapidly grow- 
ing, and many thousands of acres are under cultivation 
where a few years ago many a desert traveler has per- 
ished for lack of water. All the semi-tropical fruits are 
grown here, and ripen so early that they can be placed 
on the market ahead of those from any other part of the 
State. 

Not the least among the uses which can be made of 
the desert is that of a sanitarium. The bracing, life- 
giving - air which moves across its vast stretches is not 
only a pleasure for the strong to breathe, but is very 
beneficial to the sick in the case of many diseases. 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 175 

APPENDIX. 



EFFECT OF GEOGRAPHIC CONDITIONS ON 
THE SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOP- 
MENT OF CALIFORNIA. 

California, as has already been shown, is far from 
being a geographic unit. Stretching along the Pacific 
through nearly ten degrees of latitude, and reaching 250 
miles into the interior across broad valleys, deserts and 
lofty mountain ranges, the State presents a remarkable 
variety of geographic conditions. If we consider the 
variety of surface features, climates and productions, 
which range from those of the sub-tropical zone to those 
of the arctic, we might justly consider California as a 
whole empire in itself. 

It is difficult to say which is the most important geo- 
graphic factor concerned , in the settlement and develop- 
ment of California. It is ordinarily assumed that the 
location or position of a country is the most important 
one, but in the region under discussion we shall have to 
consider much more seriously than is ordinarily neces- 
sary the factors of surface features or topography, 
climate and mineral resources. 

We have seen that latitude is of less significance than 
is usually the case, but that climate as influenced by the 
ocean, by the direction of the prevailing winds, by the 
position and direction of the mountain ranges, and by 



176 The Geography of California 

elevation above the ocean possesses extraordinary impor- 
tance. 

As far as the position of California is concerned in its 
development we see that it plays a much less important 
part now than in the period of early exploration and 
discovery. Lying upon the Pacific, which Spain claimed 
the right to control, and adjacent to Mexico, what was 
more natural than that those people should discover and 
take possession of the region? In its remoteness and 
geographic isolation from the early English settlements 
along the eastern shore of the continent there was no 
reason whatever to suppose that English speaking people 
would ever control California. 

Passing by, for the moment, the Spanish discovery 
and settlement, we can say that the real development of 
California began with the discovery of gold. Previous to 
this event the region was practically unoccupied save for 
a few small Spanish settlements whose inhabitants had 
come the comparatively short and easy journey from 
Mexico, and an occasional American who had either come 
by some trading vessel or had wandered across the con- 
tinent. 

While the gold seekers came from all parts of the 
world, by far the larger number were from the Eastern 
United States. The stories of fortunes to be made in 
the gravels of the mountain streams started a great 
migration to a region which not only occupied a remote 
portion of the continent, but was further isolated by 
almost impassable geographic barriers. The journey 
across the continent occupied many months, and was 
difficult and dangerous. Many went by sailing vessel 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 177 

around the Horn, but this was fully as long and danger- 
ous as the overland trip. The Isthmus route was shorter, 
but dangerous, because of the prevailing fevers. 

It was the lure of gold, then, which in spite of the 
most serious physical obstacles, caused the rapid settle- 
ment of California. Had gold not existed here California 
would have been settled slowly by an agricultural popu- 
lation, as in large part was Oregon and Washington. It 
was gold which kept the almost continuous line of ox 
teams crossing the vast reaches of the Great Plains. It 
was gold which led men, women and children to suffer 
privation and sometimes death on the deserts. It was 
gold which led them across the lofty Sierras, where snow 
sometimes blocked their passage, and where their wagons 
had to be taken to pieces and let down by ropes over 
cliffs. Without the great incentive offered by gold Cali- 
fornia would have long remained sparsely settled. The 
larger number of Eastern emigrants would have awaited 
the coming of the transcontinental railroad — that modern 
leveler of physical barriers. 

We can say, then, that the situation and geographic 
environment of California would have tended, under 
ordinary conditions, to make its growth in population 
slow. To be sure, many people would have come over- 
land to settle in the fertile valleys, as they did in Oregon. 
Many would have made homes on the prairies and great 
plains of the Middle West, and transportation by boat 
would have played a relatively more important part. 
People would not have hurled themselves blindly against 
such dangerous barriers as under the then existing condi- 
tions surrounding California. 



178 The Geography of California 

The position of California made it natural that Spain 
should explore and send the first settlers to its shores. 
The advantage which she had was, however, not followed 
up The remoteness of the province, and the ease with 
which the people supported themselves on the rich soil, 
and in an agreeable climate, tended toward stagnation 
instead of advance. If the people had been progressive 
the geographic barriers which separated California from 
the East would have aided Mexico greatly in retaining it. 

It is easy to understand why the early exploration of 
California was not carried on by land expeditions from 
Mexico. One party got as far north as the Grand Canon, 
but could not cross it. Another went up the Colorado 
river from the Gulf of California, but owing to the bare 
and forbidding aspect of the country the men did not 
dare to go far from their boats. 

We are accustomed to think of the sea as the great 
highway, and the shores of a new country as most easily 
explored by boat. We would naturally think it a simple 
matter for the explorers and settlers from Mexico to 
make their way north along the Pacific Coast, but as a 
matter of fact this was not the case. The narratives of 
all the expeditions by water speak of the scarcity of good 
harbors, and the constant succession of head winds. It 
often took as long for a vessel to beat up the coast as for 
an expedition to traverse the distance by land. It is 
interesting to note, then, what little advantage California 
had in the early days from her position upon the Pacific. 

Nearly all new countries were traversed first by means 
of their rivers and lakes. In California, however, and 
in fact throughout all the vast region extending eastward 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 179 

to the Missouri river, the emigrants and explorers met 
with scarcely no assistance from the waterways. The 
Platte and Arkansas rivers were generally too shallow 
for the use of boats, while the Colorado was found buried 
in an inaccessible canon, and the Snake broken by canons 
and rapids. The Columbia was used for a comparatively 
short distance from The Dalles to the sea. In California 
the only inland water made use of by the emigrants was 
about 100 miles of the lower Sacramento, between the 
town of the same name and San Francisco. 

The missions of San Diego, Monterey, Santa Barbara, 
Santa Cruz and San Francisco were located with refer- 
ence to harbors, while the sites of the others which were 
strung along the main highway connecting these, and 
which reached as far north as Sonoma, were chosen with 
especial reference to the presence of water for irrigating 
their gardens. The Mission Fathers were not long in 
discovering that California had a climate similar in many 
respects to that of Mexico, and it was their first care to 
select well watered and fertile valleys for the founding 
of their establishments. 

Owing to the fact that the country appeared drier and 
more forbidding toward the interior, the settlements 
which grew up along the line of Missions showed little 
tendency to spread far from the coast. The priests dis- 
couraged attempts at mining, and there was little other 
inducement to explore the vast and almost unknown 
interior. The isolation of California tended to make the 
people self-supporting, and to the development of a quiet 
and peaceful life. There was no market for products 
other than hides and tallow, which the New England 



-SO The Geography of California 

trading vessels occasionally called for, and so cattle rais- 
ing became the only important industry. 

We find, then, that up to the period of gold discovery 
geographic conditions determined in the fullest degree 
the position of the settlements and the occupation of the 
people. If it had not been for this discovery the develop- 
ment of California as an agricultural and commercial 
State would have proceeded along much the same line as 
the Spanish settlement. The seaports and valleys where 
water was abundant would have received the bulk of the 
emigrants, and from these they would gradually have 
spread, as they learned to make use of irrigation, into 
the drier valleys and mountains. As it was, however, 
the search for gold carried the bulk of the people away 
from the distinctly agricultural districts and into the 
gulches and canons of the Sierra Nevada and Klamath 
mountains. 

The situations chosen for the numerous towns which 
sprang up through the foothill belt as a result of the 
mining excitement are in many cases peculiar and inter- 
esting. The location of each was determined by con- 
venience to some particularly rich "bar" or stream. Some 
of them were in narrow gulches or on steeply sloping 
mountain sides, and they were rarely placed with regard 
to agricultural possibilities or thought of future lines of 
travel and communication. 

The only available port in which supplies could be 
received by ship, and all had to come that way, was San 
Francisco, and that little town soon became a bustling 
city. From San Francisco goods and passengers could 
easily reach Stockton, Sacramento, Marysville and Red 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 181 

Bluff, from which points they were distributed to the 
various mining camps. It is very interesting to compare 
San Francisco and Monterey as regards their growth 
during the gold excitement. Monterey was one of the 
oldest places in the State, as well as metropolis and early 
capital, while San Francisco was merely a little hamlet. 
The geographic position and environment of these places 
became all-important. Monterey, although situated in a 
fairly well protected bay, had no direct connection with 
the interior, and was, moreover, farther from the mines. 
It lay upon no line of communication with them, and 
scarcely felt the exciting events of the gold period, and 
up as late as 1890 it remained one of the most typical 
of the old Spanish towns of California. 

The wonderful growth of San Francisco was foreshad- 
owed by its position upon the great bay. There is no 
other place upon the Pacific Coast of the United States 
so clearly adapted by nature to be the seat of a great 
commercial city. The situation of San Francisco Bay 
is central, and with its arms and tributary valleys reach- 
ing out into the heart of the central and northern portions 
of the State, it controls an area which will some day be 
populated by many millions. 

The situation of Sacramento gave it an advantage 
over the other valley towns which came into existence 
as supply points for the mines. Larger boats could 
ascend the Sacramento river to this point than could 
reach the other places. Sutter Fort was situated on the 
American river near the town, and was a well known 
rendezvous for all the early emigrants, so that all the 
mam overland trails converged here. 



182 The Geography of California 

At the breaking out of the gold excitement Captain 
Sutter was engaged in growing grain in the Sacramento 
Valley, but home-raised supplies of all kinds, with the 
exception of meat, were soon entirely inadequate to meet 
the demand, and living became very high. No one 
wanted to do such prosaic work as farming when gold 
was to be had for the mere digging in the river gravels. 
In a comparatively short time matters began to mend, 
for the richest placers were soon exhausted, and those 
unsuccessful at mining, as well as the late comers, turned 
to agriculture. 

After a time the ancient river channels were opened 
up by means of hydraulic mining, and quartz veins began 
to be discovered and worked, but these operations 
employed comparatively few men, and the great bulk of 
the population which had so quickly gathered began to 
slowly drift away. Scores of once bustling towns grew 
quiet, and after a few years many of them were recognized 
only by deserted and tumble-down buildings. With the 
increase in the agricultural population and the develop- 
ment of manufacturing and trade California society 
began to take on a normal character. 

We have already traced the agricultural growth of the 
State from the period of stock raising through the period 
of the great ranches which were given over largely to 
grain, to the modern period characterized by diversified 
farming and growing of fruits upon small and carefully 
cultured tracts. Each of the above periods existed as 
the result of definite geographic conditions, whose modifi- 
cation led to the transition to the next stage. 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 183 

Owing to the isolation of California under Mexican 
rule, the chief products which could be profitably shipped 
were hides and tallow, and there would have been no 
demand for these if it had not been for the energy and 
pluck of the New England trading vessels. With the 
growth of the population there came a demand for meat 
and grain. The former could be driven any reasonable dis- 
tance to market, but the profitable growing of grain was 
limited to those areas near water transportation, until 
the railroads were extended through the main valleys. 

The development of California has been greatly 
retarded through the lack of internal waterways. The 
various arms of San Francisco Bay within comparatively 
short reach of the Sacramento river and its tributaries 
being the only ones available. 

From a geographic standpoint, no finer conditions 
could exist for an important waterway than those fur- 
nished by the Great Valley and the drainage lines in it. 
By proper dredging, the Sacramento river could be used 
for freighting crops and merchandise to a point nearly 
or quite as far north as Redding. In the San Joaquin 
Valley only a slight divide of about twenty-five feet 
separates the waters of the San Joaquin from the basins 
of Lake Tulare and Buena Vista Lake. A canal could 
be constructed from the latter lake, at the southern end 
of the San Joaquin Valley northwesterly to the San 
Joaquin river and tidewater, with no serious engineering 
difficulties in the way, thus affording a cheap outlet to 
one of the greatest and richest garden spots of the world. 

Irrigation was first looked upon by the settlers from 
the East as a laborious and tedious method of growing 



184 The Geography of California 

crops, and it was some time before they began to under- 
stand its application, and the great advantage which it 
offered in enabling them to moisten the ground just 
when moisture was needed, rather than to depend upon 
chance showers. 

Irrigation is of great importance to California, not 
only because there are large areas where the rainfall is 
insufficient, but because much of what does fall comes 
at the wrong season of the year. Winter is the wet 
season in California, and at that time the weather is so 
cool that plants grow but little, even in the warmer 
valleys. As spring comes on the precipitation grows 
less, and finally ceases entirely in the summer months, 
just when growing things need it the most. 

Another thing which makes irrigation easy to carry 
out on a large scale is the fact that the extensive lowland 
valleys lying about the bases of the mountains in which 
the streams head, have a gentle, even slope just suited to 
canals and ditches. At the mouth of every canon there has 
been built up a broad flat debris cone, and it is the union 
of these cones in one broad plain which gives rise to the 
valley slopes. 

The importance of lofty mountains in a region defi- 
cient in moisture is clearly illustrated in California. They 
not only increase the precipitation several times what it 
otherwise would be, but much of it is left in the form 
of snow, which melts slowly and aids greatly in keeping 
up the summer flow of the streams. A supply of water 
for irrigation is thus made possible where, if the moun- 
tains were absent, the region must remain an unproduc- 
tive desert. 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 185 

The possibilities of irrigation for the growth of fruit 
and vegetables could not be fully realized until a market 
could be obtained outside of the State. The building of 
the transcontinental railroads was the final link in the 
chain of causes and effects, and was really the opening 
up of our modern California development. Dried fruits, 
grain and other non-perishable products could be shipped 
around the Horn by boat, but until the railroads came 
there was no market for fresh fruit outside the State 
and the immediately adjoining coastal regions. With the 
rapid overland trains we now deliver fresh fruit and vege- 
tables by the thousands of carloads all over the United 
States. 

The growth of manufacturing industries in California 
has been seriously affected by geographic conditions. 
The cost of living continued high for many years follow- 
ing the gold excitement because of the comparatively 
small attention given to agriculture, and so it was diffi- 
cult to compete with eastern products. Besides this, 
almost all the coal used had to be imported by boat from 
distant countries. Although iron deposits are known to 
exist in California, little, if any ore has been mined and 
smelted. The recent discovery of immense petroleum 
fields in the Coast Ranges, whose deposits seem inex- 
haustible, is a very important thing for manufacturing, 
since the larger part of the oil is better adapted for fuel 
purposes than any other. 

If we except the redwoods along the coast, the forests 
of California are found mostly in the mountains, and 
were difficult to reach by the means at the command of 
the early settlers. During the period of the gold excite- 



186 The Geography of California 

ment materials for many houses were brought around the 
Horn. 

Owing to geographic conditions being very different 
from those surrounding the forests in the Eastern States, 
lumbering in California has been carried on in a different 
manner. The rivers were not available for "log drives," 
since they were generally found to flow swiftly over 
rocky beds through deep canons. In order to get the 
lumber to market, then, mills were erected in the forests 
in the mountains, and flumes constructed leading from 
the mills at a gentle grade down to the valleys where 
they connected with the railroads. As the logs were 
sawed the lumber was thrown into the flumes, which 
were filled with water, and borne by its rapid current 
around the mountains and along the sides of canons a 
distance sometimes of thirty to fifty miles. 

We have seen that physical conditions such as climate, 
water supply, nearness to the ocean, or to that great 
highway known as the Camino Real, were the determin- 
ing factors in the location of the early Spanish settle- 
ments. We have seen also that with the discovery of 
gold physical conditions were practically ignored. Men 
braved every danger and surmounted every physical 
obstruction in their rush for the mines. Outside of the 
supply towns and the port of San Francisco the popula- 
tion was mainly concentrated in the gold belt. With the 
exhaustion of the placers the population began to spread 
according to the demands of agriculture, that most funda- 
mental of all occupations. 

The marked differences in climate of various parts of 
the State influenced the distribution of the early agri- 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 187 

cultural population even more than physical features and 
accessibility to market. People settled first where the 
rainfall was sufficient to grow the common crops with 
little or no irrigation. Large areas in Southern California 
and in the San Joaquin Valley were passed by, although 
the soil appeared to be of the best. Nearness to water, 
either springs or streams, determined the locations of the 
first homes under irrigation. Then came the leading of 
water by ditches and canals many miles onto land which 
was worthless without water, and with this the apparently 
desert portions of the State began to settle up. 

Another factor which affected the distribution of the 
early agricultural population, and in some degree affects 
it today, was the existence of Spanish grants. Nearly 
all the valleys of Southern California, as well as parts 
of the adjacent mountain slopes which were of value for 
grazing purposes, and all the valley lands of the Coast 
Ranges as far north as the San Francisco Bay region, 
had at some time been granted by the Mexican govern- 
ment to the early Spanish settlers, and these titles were 
confirmed with the transfer of the region to the United 
States. Stock raising has continued down to the present 
to be the only industry upon some of these grants, while 
others have been devoted to grain. The most of these 
grants have now been cut up into small tracts for inten- 
sive farming. 

The effect of climate on the distribution of the various 
agricultural pursuits forms an interesting study. The 
State is divided into belts and zones, some of which are 
determined by elevation, others by their position with 
relation to the ocean. Oranges, lemons, figs, olives, 



188 The Geography of California 

raisin grapes, etc., are grown to best advantage in the 
warm interior valleys. Many fruits belonging naturally 
in a more temperate climate do well in the same valleys. 
Among these are peaches, pears, apricots, plums and 
prunes. The latter really do better, however, in the 
cooler valleys near the coast, as well as in the mountain 
valleys where the elevation is too great for citrus fruits. 
Cherries do not produce in the hot valleys, nor are the 
apples grown there good. The best apples are grown in 
the mountains at an elevation of 3000 to 4000 feet, but all 
through the Coast Ranges there are many favored spots 
at a much less altitude where large quantities are raised. 

Few fruits do well upon the open coast where they 
are exposed to the winds off the ocean. This belt is, 
however, especially adapted to dairying, since the cool 
air, moisture, and more abundant grass through a longer 
portion of the year are all favorable factors. Since the 
development of irrigation and the growing of large quan- 
tities of alfalfa dairying ^has been carried on much more 
extensively in the interior. 

In the lowland valleys of the Coast Ranges, too cool 
or frosty for citrus fruits, the walnut and almond are 
grown extensively. Beans do best in the sandy soils of 
the damp coastal region. The variations of soil and 
climate in California are so great that space forbids the 
presentation of more detail along this line. We should 
make note, however, of the remarkable variety of fruits 
and vegetables which, though here grown to perfection 
side by side, are ordinarily found in different climatic 
zones. 



Effect of Geographic Conditions 189 

Each of the seven provinces under which the State 
has been discussed in the previous pages has certain 
fairly well defined physical and biological characteristics 
which should enable one to recognize it when these are 
described. The importance of having a clear mental 
image of the relief of California, in the light of what has 
already been said, cannot be over estimated. 

It should be noted further, in connection with a study of 
the influence of relief, that the rivalry which has at times 
existed between Northern and Southern California, and 
threatened to start a movement for State division, has a 
real basis in geographic conditions. The Mohave Desert, 
with its plateau-like surface and inclosing mountain 
ranges, which separate it alike from Central and Southern 
California, forms a great wedge pointing westward 
which almost cuts the State in two parts. In earlier 
times this barrier would have given rise, without doubt, 
to two separate peoples having their communication 
mainly by water. With modern means of communication 
afforded by the railroads, deserts and mountains are prac- 
tically obliterated. As it is now merchants in Los 
Angeles actually ship goods across this once important 
barrier into the San Joaquin Valley in competition with 
the merchants of San Francisco. 

In looking over the physical conditions under which 
California life is developing, we see that physical bar- 
riers can be overcome. We see that water can be con- 
ducted from where it is abundant to where it is needed 
in order to utilize the land, as illustrated in the fullest 
degree in the case of the Los Angeles aqueduct. There 



19C The Geography of California 

is one factor, however, that cannot be changed by man, 
and that is climate. 

We cannot make the climate in a given place either 
warmer or colder, nor can we change the amount and 
distribution of the rainfall. We can, however, seriously 
affect the benefits of the rainfall by careless treatment of 
the forested slopes about the heads of the streams. If 
we cut down the forests and remove the humus cover 
from the soil the waters will run away in floods, bearing 
the best of the soil with* it, while the floods will be 
followed by almost dry stream beds in the long, hot 
summers. 

The future development of California is intimately 
dependent upon the careful and rational conservation of 
its forests and streams. The geographic environment 
given us by Nature can be modified in some ways, but 
in others its exactions are merciless. 



ACTUAL RELIEF MAP OF CALIFORNIA. 



The value of relief maps for teaching Geography and 
Physiography is now so generally understood and 
acknowledged that it is not necessary to explain the 
great advantages to be derived from this map. 

The Actual Relief Map of California is 34 inches by 
41J/2 inches. (Scale eighteen miles to the inch with a 
vertical scale of seven to one.) It is large enough to 
show the details of the topography of the State clearly 
to an entire class. The map is made of a special com- 
position which is hard and durable, and at the same 
time light, so that it can readily be handled by the 
teacher. It may be hung on the wall for general dem- 
onstration or placed on a table for class study. The 
map is mounted in a substantial oak frame. 

The modeling is accurate down to the smallest pos- 
sible details, and in addition to all of the topographical 
features of the State, the principal lakes, rivers, cities 
and towns are located, and the names of the important 
bays, ranges, mountains and peaks are shown. The 
counties also are outlined and the principal railroads of 
the State located as are also the large forests and 
national reserves. 

Supplementary to the main model of the State of 
California, in the northeast corner of the map a relief 
model of San Francisco and vicinity is included. This 
is modeled on an enlarged scale, namely, four miles 
to the inch, with a vertical scale of three to one. It 
shows the topography of San Francisco, the harbor and 
the surrounding country to much better advantage than 
is possible on the regular map of smaller scale. Los 
Angeles and vicinity is also treated in the same way on 
a scale of ten miles to the inch and vertical scale of two 
to one. 

Price, in strong oak frame, $17.50. 

WHITAKER & RAY-WIGGIN CO., 

San Francisco. 



Ffc 5 1911 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
DEC I ^ 



